Sword Art Online: The Force Within
by HappyTheCamper
Summary: Kirito and his friends are excited to enter the virtual world of a rebooted classic-SWTOR. However, the game maker gives the group an opportunity of a lifetime, and asks them to take part in a new form of VR technology that will revolutionize the industry as they know it. They agree, but is the Star Wars galaxy all it's cracked up to be, or is the new Force system hiding something?
1. Title Crawl

**Author's Note: See next page.**

* * *

 **A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...**

* * *

 **-SWORD ART ONLINE-**

 _ **the Force Within**_

 **.**

 **Gaming in the Virtual**

 **Reality is** **saved!**

 **Made popular by the game**

 **SWORD ART ONLINE,**

 **publishers are once**

 **again** **producing VR**

 **products world-wide.**

 **.**

 **Peter Mathis, CEO and**

 **President of the company**

 **IMMORTAL GAMING**

 **has successfully** **claimed**

 **the rights to reproduce**

 **a new title under**

 **a very famous name** **.**

 **.**

 **Kirito, the former hero**

 **of SAO,** **has purchased**

 **a** **copy of** **this long**

 **awaited** **masterpiece,**

 **hoping the** **highly**

 **anticipated release**

 **will** **change the world,**

 **and bring** **VR** **back into**

 **the** **graces** **of the public….**

 **.**


	2. 1: The Game of the Year

**Author's Note: I do not own _Sword Art Online._ It, its story, characters, settings and all other aspects are the property of A-1 Studies, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara. I also do not own the _Star Wars_ franchise. It and all of its branches are the property of Lucasfilms/Electronic Arts and Bioware ****under Walt Disney Studios and the Disney Company. The only aspects of this story I can claim are minor pieces to the plot and several original characters.**

* * *

 **Sword Art Online: _The Force Within_**

 **Chapter One - The Game of the Year**

* * *

"Everything seems to be working well. The servers have all stayed strong overnight for company players, and the public launch will begin first thing tomorrow morning."

A pale man sat inside a widespread office room located at the top of a rather large and fairly modern building, deep within the heart of a populous city. A woman had just stepped inside the dimly lit grey office to deliver the news, and after a lengthy pause, the man behind the desk gave her a nod as he turned in his chair. The nameplate on his desk read **"Peter Mathis."**

"Thank you, Amanda...I'll have the crew downstairs monitoring the servers all week for the launch. I only hope it can all stay online."

Amanda nodded, but began noticing her employer was still caught up reviewing a piece of paper in his hands, so focused in fact that he never actually gave her eye contact for their previous exchange.

"Forgive me...sir, but you seem sort of tense. Are you nervous for the game's launch?"

The man stopped reading and finally looked up to the assistant. He let his dark blue eyes settle for a brief moment, making the scene rather uncomfortable, but then gave her a soft laugh.

"I am a little, yes. I guess I have no reason to be, though. From what I've gathered my two admins are both very eager to make this game a reality."

Amanda's frown went rather weak from that remark, almost as if he was referring to her. She bowed and turned back towards the door. "I guess so…w-well I hope everything goes well on your end."

"Yes." The man replied, blankly looking at the top of his desk. He let the moment sink in for a brief second before recollecting his thoughts. Then, the executive laughed, and rested his back inside his chair.

"Right. Anyway, I'll be glad to address the press tomorrow, after the sun comes up and the players have a chance to ask questions about the game's playability…and Amanda?"

The blonde assistant stopped before her departure, and widened her blue eyes after hearing his last remark. Mathis kept looking out his great bay window, but revealed a soft grin in the blackened reflection of the class.

"You don't have to call me 'Sir', dear. That's not part of the job."

Amanda shook her head gently and grinned as she walked towards the door. She delivered a small wave before leaving the office. "Yes si…I-I mean…just get a good night's rest."

* * *

Meanwhile, halfway around the world, we find ourselves joining an extensive line of eager gaming fans, who are now waiting outside a large video game company in the heart of Tokyo, Japan. The massive army of young gamers has been there all evening, and has only grown larger by the hour.

That endless waiting was all about to change, however, once the new products for the AmuSphere had finally finished up. A brand-new addition to the latest Virtual Reality device had finally been signaled for release, and with it came an entire host of new games to enjoy. However, the game our anxious audience finds themselves waiting for is set to become the biggest release of all time.

"Oh man! I can't believe we're actually going to get this game!" The red-haired Ryoutarou Tsuboi yelled out with pure emotion as he jumped up and down to check the progress of the line. He only settled down to hold a better conversation with his friends. "This is going to be the biggest game ever! The line's already going back ten blocks!"

"Did it get that long?" Kazuto Kirigaya turned around and stuck his head out to trace the end of the line, but as his eyes kept going further back, he failed to see its end.

"Wow." Kazuto turned and grinned. "Klein's not lying. This is the biggest gaming line I've ever waited in."

"No kidding." Andrew Mills humbly agreed as he shook his head. "Although, I don't think I needed Klein's brilliant read to explain the obvious. This game is going to be pretty popular no matter how big the opening is."

"Funny." Ryoutarou rolled his eyes. "Just for that comment, I'mma make you buy all the copies for the girls."

"Hold on now." Andrew laughed. "I thought we each were getting three copies. Not to mention we each have actual money from the others to make sure they get their games too."

"Agil's right, Klein. We agreed on three copies each." Kazuto was pointing out the agreement they made with their other friends to buy one copy each, since the majority of them could not join the late-night festivities.

"Well, _we_ agreed differently." Ryoutarou emphasized his gesture towards Andrew as they both laughed. The young man then continued. "I was supposed to get your game as well, Kirito, but you decided on sneaking out to join us grown-ups in line."

"Ahehe…let's not mention that again. I'm not feeling so hot about this." To be clear, this was a school night, and all of their other friends were getting a healthy night's sleep for their mid-term exams the next day.

Their spring break was just around the corner, but until then, Asuna, Suguha, and all the others from their usual gaming party had to wait on playing the new game before they finished out the week.

This group of patient testers should have included Kazuto as well, but being the eager gamer he usually is, the young black haired boy snuck out and located Andrew and Ryoutarou downtown before they made it too far in line.

Ryoutarou raised his hands behind his head and let out a sly grin. "Ah it sucks being in school, don't it? Man, I'm glad I'm done with that crap!"

"I'll say." Andrew agreed. "Still, everyone else is going to be pretty angry that you're here right now, Kirito. Especially Asuna."

"HA!" The red-headed Ryoutarou howled. "No kidding! She's gonna rip you limb from limb if she finds out you came out with us! And what if you fail that big test tomorrow? I bet she'll break your copy of the game before you even get the chance to play!"

Kazuto rolled his eyes and turned away as he stuffed his hands deeper into his coat pockets. "Don't worry about me. It's math tomorrow, and that's my best subject. Besides…if I'm that worried about Asuna, I'll just choose to hold off on telling her…It's Suguha who I need to worry about. I _do_ live in the same building as she does, after all."

"Nah." Andrew waved and arm and turned back to face forward. "I think they'll both understand. After all, this was your favorite game growing up, right?"

"Yea, it actually was." Kazuto smiled and turned towards the brightly lit glass building beside their line, which also happened to feature a large promotion poster for the new game hanging right by their place in line. "Man, it's hard to believe it, actually. _Star Wars_ joins the Virtual Reality."

He was absolutely right. For the first time ever, the galaxy far far away was entering the world of virtually real gaming. Based on a successful series of games in the early 2000s called _The Knights of Old Republic_ series, Star Wars was one of gaming's greatest franchises.

And just like Andrew mentioned, this was a fan favorite loved by all, including Kazuto. The later MMO, _The Old Republic_ , was released in December of 2011, and quickly offered gamers from around the world a new way at enjoying their favorite series. Although it was never officially disclosed, based on estimates, it was also one of the most developmentally expensive games ever made.

During its hay-day, the game had one million subscribers within three days of its launch, making it the world's "fastest-growing MMO ever", though in the following months after release, the game lost a fair share of its subscriptions.

When it was originally released in 2011, however, Kazuto was only 3 years old. He would later discover it as an early school child, and it along with many other games provided Kazuto with his future love of gaming.

Ryoutarou and Andrew were also older fans of the series, and both thoroughly enjoyed the films as well. The former was so enthusiastic, he even contiued sharing his thoughts after the three of them finished gazing at the poster to their right.

"Man! This is the coolest thing I've ever lived through! I mean remember SAO? On release day only 10,000 players joined in to get trapped. The original Old Republic had almost a million by then! And it wasn't even VR!"

"True that!" Andrew agreed. "Not to mention the Knights of the Old Republic was just as big the year it was released too. I think it might have been the first ever RPG for Star Wars?"

"Yea, and now we have the first ever VRMMORPG for the series as well." Kazuto cracked a smile and nodded to himself. "It's almost fitting that this series would eventually get a title for the AmuSphere, and I'm just glad I'm here to live through it."

"Hell yes to that!" Ryoutarou chimed off. He put his arms around both of their shoulders. "Now we did promise we wouldn't play any of it until the others got a chance to join in. So how's about to celebrate, we throw the loot in the car and hit up some night clubs?!"

Andrew smiled and shook his head. "Man, I got my own restaurant. I can't go giving my money up to the competition. It's bad enough this game was so expensive. Plus, we have to update our gear."

"Yea, not to mention I'm not much of the clubbing type…" Kazuto timidly held his head low, and carried on thinking about his future game.

"Agh, whatever. Hey I think the line's moving anyway…" Ryoutarou and Andrew stepped up, and Kazuto slowly followed behind as he was still trapped inside his thoughts.

 _"_ _Wow. Star Wars in the VR. This is the biggest thing I've ever lived through."_ Kazuto was so excited, he almost completely forgot about his test tomorrow, and his friends at school who missed out on the chance to join them that evening. Either way, he continued reminiscing from the old days of playing TOR after school, and began wondering how much will stay similar from the old title.

 _"_ _I hope the factions are going to be similar to the old game. I bet everyone else is going to want to be a Jedi, but I'm almost thinking Sith just for the black outfits and those cool red lightsabers."_ Kazuto liked the idea of rebelling against his friends, but decided he should probably discuss a plan with them before picking a rogue faction.

Either way, he had a long night, and a long week ahead of him. From here, he, Andrew, and Ryoutarou would gather their pre-ordered merchandise from the store, and continue eagerly waiting until they had enough time on the weekend to play.

* * *

Now that the three friends had secured their bounty and left the store, it was now time to separate for the night and return to their homes. They all went back to Andrew's café, and as Kazuto located his motorcycle across the street he finally made his way home to rest his legs.

"Okay…time to see if I was smart enough to leave my window unlocked." Kazuto quickly rolled his powered off motorcycle into the driveway as he crept back around to the side of the house with his room. He located a ladder in the back yard, and softly placed it right outside his window, and slowly shimmied up to his room.

"Phew!" He quietly sighed and pushed the glass window open to slip inside undetected by his housemates. His aunt's room was further down the hall, but his younger cousin and fellow gamer, Suguha, was just next door, and she would be very angry to wake up finding Kazuto coming home from buying the new Star Wars game.

Now that he was finally home, the young Kazuto threw his stuff down on his bed and walked out to find the bathroom. After brushing his teeth, he returned to his room and tried convincing himself that falling asleep would be a great idea. Unfortunately, what he really wanted to do involved plugging his AmuSphere in and testing out his brand-new game instead.

Why did it matter to anyone else anyway? He was mature. If he chose to play the game over studying or sleeping, that was his decision. The test tomorrow was his best core subject, and he would only be on his game for 10, 15 minutes tops. All's he needed to do was let it load, and maybe enter the game to pick his faction.

"If I just pick the faction that I want before everyone else, then I'll just act confused when the others join the game…man maybe I am acting silly."

Kazuto let the thought weigh back and forth inside his head, but as he failed to make a decision, his instincts continued loading up the new game and prepping his shiny new AmuSphere device. A short period made him pause before the disc finally loading inside his computer, and soon allowed him to begin playing his newly loaded game.

"Alright…" He took a deep breath before settling into his bed and gained comfort over his mattress. Finally, he exhaled his entire breath before shouting out his beginning command.

"LINK!...Agh... _Link start_."

Kazuto's voice changed from a yell to a whisper as the device barely registered the command, and quickly began calibrating his new sights to install his new game. Language settings and visuals were all checked, and before he knew it, the new loading screen took place.

 **"** **Welcome to Star Wars: The Old Republic Online!"** The usual message floated above a blank black and yellow loading room as Kazuto waited for further instructions. "Please select the avatar you wish to transfer."

Kirito made no hesitation in choosing his one and only avatar for the transfer, because he actually preferred keeping his original name in this new galaxy, just like SAO and ALO before.

However, before the game took him to the usual character selection, or took him straight into the game's loading screen, the entire view went black before his eyes, and a small void of silence took the air.

"Hold on…what is this?" Kirito paused to collect what was going on, but just then a tiny, dark grey play button appeared before his face. The icon startled Kirito for a second before he realized what it was. Naturally he pressed the button and stood back to watch a semi-large floating screen appear out in front of his chest, and without further ado, the mysterious video began playing.

 _"_ _Hello, and welcome to the all new experience to revolutionize Virtual Reality—Star Wars: The Old Republic Online."_

Kirito barely recognized the speaking man's face, because he was only recently seen in the news. Peter Mathis, the elder founder of _Immortal Gaming_. They were the joint creators of TOR Online. He acquired the production rights from both _LucasArts_ and _Bioware_ _Gaming_ to create his new game, and made sure to bring Virtual Reality to the next level.

The video of Mathis continued. _"The Old Republic Online has recently been released world-wide, but only in its traditional form for the AmuSphere. The reason I come to you, however, is because you appear to be one of the lucky 1000 to have earned a second method of playing this game."_

"Huh…?" Kirito knew this message was pre-recorded, and Mathis was not directly talking to him. He still seemed rather intrigued and continued listening to the video's proposition.

 _"_ _As it stands, there are currently two platforms that the Old Republic can be played on, and one of those is this improved version of the AmuSphere. The second however is under current development at Immortal headquarters, and we officially have 1000 units prepped for beta-testing our new state-of-the-art technology. That is…if you find you're up for the challenge."_

"Well, when you put it like that…" Kirito narrowed his eyes with both suspicious and intrigue, but chose to let the latter guide his next decision. He carried on listening to the voice's information.

 _"_ _Right now, I have my Tokyo offices prepped for volunteer Beta-Testers, and I am asking you to join in their research. Complete the trial tests with hundreds of other dedicated friends, and join the never-before-seen VR experience before its officially released. The ultimate full-body dive."_

Kirito still was not swayed to make a decision just yet, but as he nearly closed out, the call from Mathis went ahead and initialized an ending for him.

 _"_ _If you would like any more information, please follow the link on your game box to our website. Until then, I please ask that you make the right decision. Farewell, and may the force be with you."_

Kirito rolled his eyes and grinned at the cheesy sign off, but the lasting image of the highlighted web-page left him more and more intrigued. His fingers grew itchier and itchier, and just as he raised his hand to press the link, his heart raced with unwanted anxiety.

Before the link was used, his vision grew blurry, and his monitor and peripheral vision flashed with bright red warnings. Kirito panicked until the visual before him quickly changed to black, and he was swiftly thrown back into the real world of Japan.

Kazuto blinked for a few moments, but then took a great big gasp of air as he realized what might have happened. Finally, his face turned a bright shade of red as he slowly raised his goggles, and just as the view of his room opened up, he saw her standing at the foot of his bed.

"Kazuto…" Suguha Kirigaya sighed with droopy eyes, and held her arms crossed in front of her chest. "…Glad to see you got the game _without_ us."

* * *

 **Well I surely am excited to finally be able to release this story! It's been a large work-in-progress, but I have had/still am having a blast writing it! Kazuto Kirigaya and his friends may be in for a hell of a surprise, or at least a beautiful view inside the world of Star Wars.**

 **I'll try to post frequently. Until then!**


	3. 2: A New Virtual Reality

**Author's Note: Chapter Two is here! We'll get a little more information on the Force System, reunite with some Immortal Gaming employees, and find out the opinions of Asuna and the others after Kirito spills the big news. Bigger question though...how did Kirito do on his mid-term test? **

**Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Two - A New Virtual Reality

* * *

"The Force System is truly something special, isn't it?"

As one of the head developers for _Immortal Gaming_ , Tanner Holland had a front row experience to the new Old Republic game from the inside of a real-life star ship hurtling through space.

To be more accurate, he was not actually standing in a real-life star ship, it was more of a virtual-life experience. However, the lead lore master and one of the primary story writers for the new MMO did have his own brand of imagination. In this new world of the Star Wars galaxy, he was known as Jedi Master Tallis, trained Jedi knight and warden of the grand Galactic Republic. He was actually stationed as the grand master of the fabled Jedi Temple on the capital city of Coruscant, but he had to get a true taste of light among the stars sooner or later. He chose sooner.

"Can you believe this, Commander Clovis? A whole world open up by the newest technology of Peter Mathis." Tallis seemed awfully proud of this game's current stage of beauty. The Republic guard assigned to his side had a light grin for him.

"Tanner, it's just me, Clair. You don't have to call me commander when no one else is around." Clair was a coder, and fellow company tester for the game's new launch. She admired her supervisor's very creative mind for role-play, but found it to be rather cheesy when no one else was close enough to enjoy the spectacle with them. It was mainly NPCs and employees back in the distance of the cruiser hallway that were currently on their floor.

Jedi Master Tallis had a different opinion. "Real or fake...you have to admit he's done a magnificent job at recreating the world of George Lucas. I mean look at those stars! I feel like I'm at the cinema right now!"

Clair, or Commander Clovis, took a moment to start nodding. "It is pretty...like really pretty, but I don't understand why he had to recreate the virtual world to achieve this. the current VR technologies have to be just as good at producing this sort of HD quality."

Tallis never let his eyes leave the night's sky of space. "It's all about the wonder, and the majesty. There are so many memorable places, and people, and things in the Star Wars universe. The soaring, beautiful score by John Williams. The humor, the drama, the heart written into every scene." He then placed his hands on the glass screen protecting the two of them from the cold vacuum of virtual space. "And the risks. They say Lucas took great creative risks to make his masterpiece come to life, and Peter Mathis has done the same. The Force System...the Holocron technology will revolutionize this industry, and even taken out of the gaming sphere, it can be used to produce great things."

Clair agreed as she and Tallis continued looking over the Coruscant horizon, but as her eyes finally adjusted and agreed with her superior, a small distant flash took her focus. "Sir, those aren't Republic ships."

"I'm sorry?" He tried following her lead. "I told the engineers that Sith cruisers would be banned from this part of the game."

"They reverted it at the last minute." Clair's eyes widened as the crew behind her scrambled to prepare for the single, but dangerous Sith dreadnought cruiser. "They said it would hinder the true potential of the game's open-world mechanic."

"Who canceled it?" Tanner Holland was still playing the role of a calm Jedi Master, but the inner Immortal Gaming employee started growing nervous.

Clair stepped back with a hand on the handle of her rifle, and narrowed her vision. "Luke Ma..."

 _*Slam!*_

Lasers like lightning bolts shook the Republic cruiser with a heavy pound, and the workers preparing for the enemy lost footing as they ran about the polished black floors. Battery canons launched their own fire back at the charging Sith cruiser, but they failed to put a dent in anything thanks to the Sith's superior deflector shields. The canons changed their targets as small, bumblebee-like fighters scurried out of the dreadnought's bow hanger, and soon they swarmed the small fraction of sky that loomed over the Coruscant's defending fleet.

Tallis grabbed his lightsaber handle, but never ignited it as he ran toward the east hanger bay. "The sensory technology says a larger boarding shuttle is trying to land on our ship!"

 _Technology?_ Clair studied his words carefully to herself. _He normally just calls it the Force like a Jedi...he's breaking character? Is this really that serious?_

They finally rounded the corner to the main east hanger bay, and just in time as a large, fiery explosion blew up several Republic escape ships and stationed fighters. Tallis used his Force abilities to shield his company, and Clair used her signaling to round up a small militia of guards ready to act as a proper welcoming party. They charged up their ammunition, and held their barrels at the ready to await the boarding Sith.

Tallis kept his eyes shut, and quickly powered on his single blue lightsaber beam as the smokey doors to the Sith cruiser shifted open. Nothing appeared at first, until several large red laser bolts shot through the mist, and sliced through several of the side men stationed behind Tallis and Clovis. Clovis returned the fire, and shot right at the opened door, all while several Sith marauders deflected the beams away with their own saber swords. The contents of the evil ship, and others that had now secured their landing, eventually poured into the spacious hanger. Red, green, blue, and yellow laser beams crossed over the steel environment, leaving lights flashing over people and steel. Death took the Republic freighter by storm, but the Jedi commander held his arms up and head high as he kept the defense of the ship alive.

That would soon be tested, however, as two figures appeared from a far back Sith shuttle. Four red lightsaber blades ignited between two approaching foes. The lead man has a light cloak topped with a sinister mask, no hood. The man behind him had bright silver hair, and a devilish smile. The commander had a duel-ended saber staff, and his subordinate duel weilded single bladed weapons.

Tallis took a deep breath, and marched forward. He expected to have no support for this daunting challenge, but Clovis followed behind as she charged up the mini-gun strapped to her back.

"Keep them near a ship," Clovis suggested, "We can send them back through the gate with an explosion."

"I'll trust you to keep your aim sharp." Tallis held a confident Jedi's grin as he started falling back into his fictional persona. He had a feeling he knew who the approaching Sith duo was, and the excitement of fighting the top two combat engineers left him excited and ready to spar.

The leader slowed his role, while the white-haired assistant darted forward with two light sabers crashing down on the Jedi commander. He also managed to toss a large piece of metallic shrapnel at the Republic commando, but Clair roll-dodged out of the way. The Sith warrior kept his brutal assault up on the Jedi defender, and Tallis managed to hold his own as his skill with a single blade was enough to rival any approaching duelist. He also had a healthy set of commando armor underneath his robes, though nothing too heavy to limit his movements as he slashed outward to try and catch the Sith off guard.

The marauder flipped backwards in the blink of an eye, then darted back into the fight with a cross slash aimed at the Jedi's chest. Tallis pried a metal floorboard up out of the ground, and pulled the bolts out to curl the steel upward in his defense. The silver-haired warrior pierced the metal sheet like it was liquid with his two fiery hot swords, then sliced through the paper-like metal to cut down his enemy. Tallis kept his blocking up, and suddenly switched to offense as he tried to cut the lightsabers out of his enemy's hand. As a commanding knight in the Jedi Order, Tallis knew disarming the enemy was a far better strategy than taking his life, even if this was all imaginary.

Even better, all he had to do was wait for his ally to spark up the enemy ships, and watch as their engines blew up to send them back into space, but that fire never came to his aid. He was losing his stamina as he kept up his fight with the athletic dark Jedi, and as they both backed off, the Sith spoke.

"You're quite the warrior, Tanner." He held a deep voice with a smooth English accent from the southside of the British country. "Or am I supposed to call you Tannis? I'm new to the role-playing crowd."

"Tallis." The proud Jedi pointed up at his floating name-bar. "I could say the same for you, _Darth Trentyn_."

"See?" The senior combat specialist, Trent Bishop shrugged. "You can just use your real name, like I did. You don't have to make it all dorky _all_ of the time." He spun his two weapons in hand. "Also, I hope your friend Clair wasn't planning on helping out, or anything."

"She'll be fine." He gave Trentyn a wink. "I'd be more concerned about your one way out of here."

Trentyn wanted to provide an acting smirk, but never needed to act as a smoldering body shrouded with purple lightning slammed in between them. The person wore white-gold commando armor, and the helmet was cracked on top revealing a small head of brown hair.

"Clair?" Tanner spoke her real name. He had no idea what happened to players using the new technology once their character died. Would they revive, would they be logged out? He quickly turned his focus away from Trentyn to block the slashing attack of an incoming ball of red and black shadow.

The lead Sith spun around to hack off the head of Tanner's avatar with the back end of his staff, but stopped as the Jedi Master began powering up a large cloud of air and energy.

Tallis shot the Force energy ball right for the torso of the Sith Lord, but the master dark Force wielder grabbed the energy like an invisible baseball, and shot it back toward the owner with twice the power and speed. Tallis flew back through fields of fire and burning metal as his body scraped against the wreckage on its way down.

Jedi Master Tallis had lost his prized weapon, and slowly lifted his head up to see the tall Sith Lord stop at his feet. The master of this dark assault slowly removed his metal mask, revealing a youthful face, buzzed black hair, pale skin, and sharp yellow eyes.

"Well...My Lord." Tallis gave the victor some satisfaction. "Perhaps you _are_ the next ruler of this galaxy."

The man with yellow eyes never changed his vision, and never even spoke a word. He simply ignited the body of Jedi Master Tallis with a shroud of powerful purple lightning, which left the defeated Jedi there to shriek and scream as he echoed through his own fallen ship.

The Lore Master of The Old Republic Online fell out of consciousness, and let his character die as the avatar's body stopped moving. The Sith Master lowered his weapon, and looked up at the open bay door, now turned toward a beautiful view of the enlightened capital down below.

Trentyn sheathed his sabers onto his belt, and adjusted the cuffs on his tunic's sleeves. "Lucas, your orders?"

Lucas never turned around, and slowly put his arms behind his back. "Lusac. Its _Emperor Lusac_. Tanner Holland was an idiot, but he did have the right idea. If we're playing this game for _him_ , then we're going to play it right. Starting with _that_ planet there. Prep a shuttle, no commanders, only explosives...and a loyal pilot."

Trentyn had his arms crossed while he smirked, and tilted his head as he turned to alert his inferior leftenant. "At once, my Lord. At once."

* * *

"Hold on, Kirito stayed up late to get the games with the others? That's totally unfair!"

Rika Shinozaki, or _Lisbeth_ as she was known in the VR world, was walking with a group of friends down the streets of Tokyo as she and the others made way for Andrew Mill's restaurant—the Dicey Café.

With her were several of her school mates, including her best friend Keiko Ayano (Silica), and her friend from a different school Suguha Kirigaya. Behind them was the rather quiet couple, and former heroes of Sword Art Online, Asuna Yuuki and Kazuto Kirigaya. Suguha had just finished explaining why Kazuto was so sleepy that day during school, because she was the only one who knew the real reason for his late-night loss of energy.

"That little brat…" Rika bit her tongue and tried to quell her comical bout of anger. "No wonder he fell asleep on his mid-term form. He was probably up last night getting through the tutorial too!"

"Well, not exactly…he never even played it." Suguha clearly explained what he was doing the moment she found him.

"He wasn't playing yet?" The little Keiko asked. "But didn't you say you unplugged his AmuSphere? What was he doing?"

"I'm not really sure." Suguha smiled softly with an ounce of embarrassment. "Anyway, if you guys are really that mad, I wouldn't even sweat it. Kazuto learned his lesson."

"No kidding." Rika smirked and turned her head half way around. "I bet _she_ laid on the anger the moment they left the school."

Behind the three girls, Asuna Yuuki and Kazuto Kirigaya marched rather slowly to give themselves space from the others. From the looks on their faces, you could tell not much talking actually took place, but instead a whole lot of internal judgement was being cast around the pair.

Kazuto's face was nearly white, and he kept his eyes hanging really low. Meanwhile, the passive Asuna held her hands behind her back, and her chin up as she kept her eyes closed in thought. She never really said much after hearing the news, and she was still wondering whether she should be mad or not.

To be completely honest, Asuna would have been more shocked if he _had not_ done it. She knew this game meant a lot to him, and she definitely knew it was more important that their exams that week. That was one thing she admired in Kazuto—he always knew what he wanted, no matter what.

Now, it was time for Kazuto to try and clear things up, before they got to the café. He swallowed all his pride and tried cracking a smile.

"Well…if it means anything, I really never played any of the game without you."

"I know." Asuna replied, flatly. "It probably would have been better for you if you had."

"Agh!" Kazuto literally had no idea how to respond to diffuse the negative tension, but just then he turned to find Asuna beaming with delight as she reached for his hand.

"That way, you would have had a positive memory on the day you failed your test!"

"…" Kazuto had no intention of denying that remark, but it turns out the poor grade from that day's exam was just enough of a punishment in Asuna's eyes, and deep down she really did know that this was an important game for him.

That alone left her confused. "Which still leaves me worried…why haven't you play the game yet?"

"Oh." Kazuto was glad to be holding her hand, but let his blood settle before releasing his information. "Well to be honest I was totally ready to pick my faction and play through the tutorial, but I don't think I got a regular copy of the game…"

"What?!" Asuna frantically replied. "Well you better return it! The game's already sold a record of new copies! You might not get a chance to play it until…!"

"Well actually, you didn't get a normal copy either…nor did Sugu."

"Ah…wh-what?"

Kazuto was right. Since he, Andrew, and Ryoutarou split buying their friend's games between the three of them, Kazuto not only bought his own disc, but also Asuna's and Suguha's as well. After his younger cousin woke him from the mysterious video, she asked him what the game was like. His response was rather vague.

"I told her it wasn't the game, and that it was some weird invitation to play a newer version of it downtown. Then we both checked her copy, and yours, and they were the exact same."

"That's totally creepy." Asuna tightened her grip on his hand. "So were the others invited to this…thing as well?"

"I'm not sure. It's possible since we were all in line together." He looked forward at the three girls out in front. "The five of us, Agil, Klein, Sinon, and we even ran into that Recon kid from Sugu's school at the store. All nine copies could be invitations."

"Well, that could be a coincidence…or maybe they saw your name on the pre-order and said everyone in your group should get one!"

"What?" Kazuto looked confused, but then noticed Asuna winking form her remark.

"After all, it's only a matter of time with every new game. You'll get dragged into some weird mission, and we'll be there to follow you along. Only this time we'll all be traveling to a galaxy far far away!"

"Yea, I guess so…" Kazuto weighed that thought as the Dicey Café's sign came into view. "I just need to do more research."

* * *

Canons flashed, and laser projectiles soared through the air on the virtual war-torn planet of Alderaan, which sat just off the major sector of core systems in the center of the galaxy. This was the galaxy of the _Old Republic Online_.

Here we find defenders of the Galactic Republic, guarding this land with their lives, and at the center of command sat the keepers of peace in the galaxy, and masters of the Force—the _Jedi Order_. Created in the olden days of the galaxy, these Jedi Knights were sworn defenders of peace and justice, and used their skills in combat to lead the defensive maneuvers of the Republic all across the galaxy.

One however, was no ordinary Jedi, but in fact was a rather high-ranking member of TOR's developing team. She was a co-GM, head writer for the game and co-producer, and currently she held an equally high rank within the Jedi Order.

"Master Amun-din, the Sith are advancing too fast for our forces to recoup. We need to plan our evacuation route immediately!"

A squad commander in the Republic army was briefing his higher order officer on the war front just off their camp inside the thick, Alderaan forests. They could see the fires and smoke from all over the planet, but the current Sith advancements were heading right for the Republic command and capital buildings of the once peaceful planet.

The female Jedi Master sighed and placed her hands on the railing in front of her. "The Sith have less men than they would like us to think. Not to mention the game was just recently released to the mass public. I'm sure more and more Republic players will join our relief."

"Master Jedi, they won't be enough." Cried out one extra commando. "We need to pull out our resources and begin our primary defense of Coruscant. We have no time to waste on this burning pile of nothing."

"…" The Jedi Master was trying to keep her spirits high, but it was all too dark in the hour of need. Alderaan provided a very easy pathway into the capital regions of the Old Republic, and all of its major enemies were currently trying to claim its system and hyper lanes for themselves.

One such enemy happened to be the ancient and evil order of the dark side of the Force—the _Sith Empire_. The Sith were making a move for the inner core of the galaxy, and Republic forces were trying their hardest to secure this war front, and drive the conflict out of the core and away from their capital. Immortal employees playing as Sith characters also managed to send a sabotage cruiser into the Coruscant Jedi Temple, and blew the building sky high before the official release. Master Amun-din knew how vital this place was, and she was rightfully behind defending it at all costs.

In reality, she was no Jedi, but instead a simple game developer who found herself stuck in the middle of a conflict she wanted no part of joining. Her name was not Amun-din, it was Amanda. She was raised in North America, and her family had taken great stakes in the Virtual Reality market. Now, she was leading a virtual fight, and as all hope seemed to fade for her imaginary Republic, one extra commander spoke her mind.

"Well, we will have a new addition to the war front this evening. Isn't that the release time for the _Force Project_?"

Amun-din turned her head, and looked right at the female commander's eyes. Her own eyes opened wide, and with that came a new spark of hope.

"Yes, and those copies were reserved for the world's best players. If we can add their strength to our cause, we might have a chance after all."

"Yes, but there is the possibility the Empire will recruit them first. It's more of a gamble if you ask me."

Amun-din ignored most of that remark, and as the flaming missiles and fire red lasers grew closer and closer to her command post, she looked on with certain belief.

"Well, if that's so, then it's a gamble I'll have to take. At the very least, they'll all be very skilled players…and they should be easy enough minds to mold in our favor."

* * *

Now, we finally reach the Dicey Café with Kazuto and all his close friends. Andrew Mills serves his guests drinks as Kazuto, Asuna, Suguha, Rikia, Keiko, Ryoutarou, and Sinon all discuss their brand new but slightly off video game.

"So none of us actually got the game? We only got video invitations for a new version of it?" Sinon sat at the bar with several other friends as the rest of them sat at close tables nearby.

Suguha nodded. "Yea, and Kazuto said the description clearly states we can exchange it for a regular copy at full price."

"So let's just do that then!" Rika stood slightly from her chair. "I just want a regular game with no creepy interruptions, and this warehouse testing thing sounds like it's going to be a total mess."

"I suppose so." Asuna nodded, but kept her eyes on Kazuto who was deep in thought about something. No one really knew what he was thinking, but Kazuto was almost too intrigued to receive these invitations.

"Why did we all get them though?" He asked. "I mean I understand why I got targeted, but Agil and Klein?"

"Hey, you saying you're more important than I am, Kirito?" Ryoutarou cracked a smile and continued joking around with Kazuto. "I'm just as big of a gamer as you are."

"Yea right…" Rika rolled her eyes and slid back into her seat. She then turned towards Kazuto. "Seriously though, what are you going to do?"

"…" Kazuto paused for a long while, which left the entire café rather quiet as well. They all could have made their own decisions, but if he insisted that the company specifically wanted him, then they too felt obligated to join in.

"So…" Kazuto finally stood off his stool and looked at the small crowd of friends before him. "I'm going to head down to the company's address and see what's up. I might even get some playing time in if I like what they have to offer. I don't expect any of you to join me, but I…"

As he tried to finish, Asuna stood as well, and grabbed his hand to finish both of their thoughts. "…Will be glad to have all of us right behind you."

"Eh, what the hell? I'd like to know more too!" Ryoutarou stood from his perch at the bar and walked around to put an arm over Kazuto's shoulders. "Besides, I'd like my name on this product if it ends up selling a billion copies."

"Whatever, fine!" Rika stood with a slightly angry face, but tried to hide her fiery emotions. "But I'm only going because Asuna's in too. Kirito, if anything happens to anyone in this group, I swear to god I'll…!"

"Whoa, save the anger for outside!" Andrew laughed and raised his hands. He shrugged and put up his white dish rag. "Man, I guess I can take time off to jump into some project. What's the down payment for helping again?"

"I forget, but I think it's pretty decent!" Suguha stood to join the others. "Anyway, I do feel like it's time the AmuSphere got replaced with something bigger and better. I bet this device is going to be pretty cool."

Keiko and Shino were the last to stand, but both held smiles on their faces as they joined the others. In addition, Shino even added a comment. "I better get to shoot something inside this game. It's futuristic, right?"

Little Keiko added on. "Yea, and what is this new machine exactly?"

They all laughed at Shino's joke, while Kazuto chose to answer Keiko. "It's called the _Force Program?_ I don't know. They have some new way of transferring consciousness into the Virtual Reality. I'm almost more excited to see it over the game."

"Eh, don't go saying that, Kirito." Ryoutarou walked back over to the bar to grab his drink. He then downed it all in one go before finishing his thought. "You love this game, and some nerdy new invention isn't going to keep you from enjoying it."

"That's not what I…ugh, never mind." Kazuto let his head hang low as Asuna covered up a smile. He then released his breath and confirmed his final decision.

"Okay everyone, meet here tomorrow. We'll go to Immortal Gaming headquarters together."

* * *

The next day came slowly but surely as the entire world already had 24 hours to enjoy TOR Online. Fans were giving it high marks, but very little information was being released by the company, not even comments to accept its praise. Nonetheless, Kazuto Kirigaya and his band of gaming friends felt the need to investigate some more by taking the offer of a lifetime, and decided on taking part in a new Virtual Reality demonstration.

He and the others had just finished clearing their schedules, and were now parked just under the Immortal Gamming Tokyo headquarters. From there, the new group of nine which included the eight from the café, and now Suguha's school friend Shinichi Nagata (known better as Recon in the virtual world of ALO), were all taking a seat inside the main lobby of the company building.

They all chose to dress rather moderately, both for meeting company officers and for spending time in the gaming lab, and Kazuto kept his eyes on the door to the stairs the entire time.

Asuna caught onto this and nervously grabbed her hand. "Kirito, is something wrong?"

He shook his head without hesitation, and then gave her his attention. "Nah, just thinking on this new technology. They called it the Force Program in the video. I guess they designed a new method of taking you into the VR world, and it might be more efficient and more realistic."

"More realistic? What, like SAO?" Asuna was slightly confused. "Even that was impressive for its time, but I still knew it was fake. ALO's the same way."

"Yea, and GGO with them. I just can't seem to believe that this game will be any different." He then looked at the top side of a newspaper lying right next to him.

"Besides, TOR Online is already a hit. Why would they waste time inviting customers to some gimmicky presentation and steer them away from buying regular copies of the game? It's just kind of odd if you ask me…"

"Well, hopefully my team and I can change that opinion for you."

Kazuto stood up with great haste, and Asuna with him as they both looked to the stair way door. Now Ryoutarou, Suguha, and all the others were at their feet as several business men and women made way for the group of gamers.

The first one to speak continued his thought. "And that makes the final nine. I'm glad I counted that right…welcome to Immortal Gaming…erm, uh…" He kept looking around before he could confirm that the talking black haired boy was the one he wanted. "…Kirito!"

"Kazuto." The boy replied. "Kazuto Kirigaya. That's my name IRL."

"Right, apologies!" The elder man looked humbled, and almost even embarrassed for upsetting his guest. He was rather old, and appeared to be in his mid-70s, though you could tell his eyes were still sharp. He had a short head of slick grey hair, and a trimmed set of facial hair to match. Finally, he wore and all grey suite with a black undershirt, and a light gold tie as he approached Kazuto and his friends, and without further hesitation he stuck out his right hand.

"My name is Peter Mathis. I'm the CEO and creator of _Immortal Gaming._ I'm also the head developer of Star Wars: The Old Republic Online, and the primary stake holder of this operation."

"Geeze, enough titles?" Ryoutarou whispered into Rika's ear, which made the brunette girl laugh out loud and immediately cover up her mouth.

Kazuto ignored his friend's blunder and carried on. "Right, I recognize you. Your game sounds pretty successful so far."

"It does, and I hope it continues in growth across the globe." Peter Mathis turned slightly and gestured towards the stair door. "Please join us in the conference room on the next floor, I'd love to get started."

Asuna grabbed Kazuto's hand even tighter than before, and he accepted as they both led their group of friends into the mysterious back stair well and onto their final meeting. From there the group was debriefed with their initial mission, and as they all reluctantly accepted they were split off into groups of 2, with one remaining group being made up of 3.

This was Kazuto, Asuna, and Suguha. They both stuck with Kirito for every step of the way as the others volunteered to take the early routes. Both girls had watched their best friend walk into far too many games alone without any control, which left the two of them nervous every second for Kirito's personal health.

Finally, Mathis personally led the remaining trio into the back of the hall, where the final testing room held their next mission phase. He opened the door and instructed for his three guests to get comfortable for the explanation.

"Kazuto and friends, please allow me to introduce the star of the production—the _Holocron._ "

Kazuto and Suguha were completely blown away, but it was actually Asuna who gathered the most intrigue from the display before their eyes. The Holocron's design was largely similar to the medical-use VR machine, the _Medicuboid_ , which happened to hold the bodies of several members of the Sleeping Knights Guild of ALO, including her late friend, Yuuki Konno.

The Medicuboid was designed by scientist Koujiro Rinko which in turn was based on the high intensity output scanner that Akihiko Kayaba used to copy his consciousness onto the Internet permanently, only at the cost of his life.

Kazuto stepped forward after ignoring the smug look on Mathis's face, and took in everything he saw from the three remaining machines. The basic design of the Holocron was almost too impressive for a regular VR device. It appeared as a very large rectangular cuboid machine that, along with the other two consoles and cooling equipment, took up an entire third of the large room, nearly reaching the ceiling at the top.

The outside of the machine was made from aluminum and gave off a dark grey-silver glow that provided the eye with a mechanical feel. The machine also held the logo of the manufacturer, and the simple words «HOLOCRON» in English on its side, along with a large number on top.

Kazuto froze for a moment before looking back towards Mathis for the first time since the lobby. "This is completely different from the AmuSphere. You probably should have mentioned that in the promotion video."

Like the Medicuboid, the Holocron came complete with a 3-meter-long soft bed attached, where the user could lie down, and allow a protruding helmet-like interface to completely cover the user's area above the shoulders, and envelop them in a pure world of Virtual Reality.

Mathis continued looking rather pleased with himself, despite Kazuto's recent concern. "I figured its size would scare the volunteers away. Our company is fully accredited, but a machine like this may have…stigmas attached to it."

Kazuto fully agreed, and now he had more questions for the man. "What, how many did you need to test in the first place?"

"One thousand units. Each located somewhere around the world."

"A thousand!?" Asuna and Suguha both yelled out in a gasp, and even Kazuto's eyes grew larger.

"You got one thousand people to sign up for the test?" Asuna replied with a cold voice. "Why so many?"

"Because the whole group of you will experience nothing like the other million players. Yes, you may be able to contact them in the open world, but you will only share the experience of the fellow one thousand Force Programmers located around the world. This machine will help fully launch the future of gaming, and it will allow players to unlock the total corners of their minds and even wield…" He trailed off as his eyes narrowed with a vision of pleasure.

"What?" Suguha turned slightly. "Wield what?"

Mathis paused for a moment, but then took a bow as he started noticing the young participants growing more and more frightened. Then, like any gentlemen, he simply smiled. "I don't wish to spoil the game, but it _will_ feel magical. Please, enjoy."

He turned around, and exited the room without shutting the door. Despite his slow departure, Suguha ran right away and shoved the two steel doors all the way shut before voicing her own opinion.

"That guy was totally creepy! Are we still cool with this?"

"Well…" Asuna began thinking about their six other friends who were already apart of the project. "I don't think we have a choice now." She turned and looked to her closest friend on earth, and tried receiving an honest answer. "Kirito? You still okay with all of this?"

Kazuto Kirigaya paused for a very long time without giving either of them his full eye contact. His mind was still wrapped up in Mathis's last comment. _"Wield the power of…" What could he possibly mean by *wield*?_ " This left him too curious to stand idly by.

Then, Kazuto turned and put his hands on both of their shoulders. "I'm more than okay, Asuna. In fact, I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

* * *

 **Sorry for an over load of their Japanese names. I like to use those when the characters are in the real world, then use the character names once inside the game, unless of course they're being used in dialogue (like how Asuna never calls him Kazuto.)**

 **So we got to meet Amanda's in-game persona. She seems nice, but very ambitious...as does the head man, Peter Mathis. I based his appearance on a very important character from SWTOR...lol. May give something away.**

 **Also, I finally started watching the new Alicization arc episodes. WOW! It's really good stuff!**

 **Chapter 3 will be out whenever I get the chance to release it. Until then!**


	4. 3: A Galaxy Far Far Away

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay! Teaching is a heavy career...here's chapter 3! We enter the famous setting of Star Wars from here out...**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Three - A Galaxy Far Far Away

* * *

As his eyes shut and the pod before him closed, Kazuto Kirigaya traveled through the colorfully white void inside his borrowed Holocron VR unit. He let the unfamiliar system set up his body's usual settings, including the language, and allowed for the computer to shut down his over world conscious and take control as his new experience began. Finally, the white virtual walls of the powering process disappeared, and the room changed to the standard black and yellow columns and rings that greet every player entering a brand-new VR game. It was here that a new message appeared over his vision.

 **"Welcome to**

 **Star Wars: The Old Republic _Online!_ "**

From there a familiar female artificial voice read a greeting aloud, and then instructed the player on his next procedure. "…TRANSFERRING ALL APPLICABLE DATA FROM THE PLAYER NOW…PROCESSING IMAGE SCANS AND RECOGNITION ANALYSIS…WELCOME KIRITO! THERE ARE 2 FACTIONS IN THE OLD REPUBLIC ONLINE TO CHOOSE FROM. PLEASE SELECT THE SIDE YOU WISH TO PLAY WITH."

Kirito remained hesitant in his tiny little room of black and started swiping back and forth between two choices before him. On the left was a background of blue, and the image that accompanied this faction appeared as a winged emblem of sorts with a center spire topped by a star. To its right was a red choice shaped like a hexagon with six spokes connecting its edges to the center of the logo.

Republic or Empire. Jedi or Sith. Kirito remembered both factions very well from back when he used to play this series of games in his early childhood. He would always make one character for each side, in order to enjoy the best of both worlds, but now he left himself with a very odd choice before going into the game.

"Well, I assume everyone else is going to want to play as the Republic, but I dunno…I like the idea of being a Sith more because of the sweet armor and cool red light…"

He went to carry on, but soon noticed the game's first bug, or at least it seemed to be a lie of sorts. Sitting below the screen just underneath the two choices, was in fact a _third_ box with an equally recognizable emblem. This box had a combination of both the Republic and Empire's logos, and showed up with a shining grey color instead of a bright blue or red.

"Hmm…" Kirito pondered for a moment as to why there now appeared to be a third faction of choice, and let his hand hover over the picture of the figure in question. The emblem lit up as if it were totally clickable, and everything about it seemed to be legitimate. He wondered why the game told him there were only two choices instead of three, and now grew more and more curious with each second left staring at the third option.

Finally, he reluctantly gave up both chances at becoming a member of the Republic or Empire, and picked the oddly designed grey combination instead. Keeping his eyes narrowed for anticipation of the worst, he soon made his choice, and waded through the finale of the selection process. Meanwhile, the female computer program reaffirmed his selection. "YOUR CHARACTER WILL BE GENERATED AT RANDOM, BUT SOME FEATURES MAY TRANSFER FROM PAST SEED GAMES. DO YOU WISH TO FINALIZE YOU PATH'S CHOICE WITH…?"

"What? I mean…" Kirito was hoping for an explanation, but now he had nothing since the computer system failed to give his new faction a name. Either way, he sighed. "I-I guess so?"

Kirito waved the 'Yes' option and let the new game load before his eyes. As the game prepared its loading screen, Kirito thought about the likelihood that any of his friends received the same option in their own choice for a faction. "I know I'm gonna be the only one who got that option…I just know it, so why the hell did I do it?!"

He thought about Asuna, and Suguha, Klein, and everyone else. Who would they all choose to play with, and how would he be able to find them if he was the only one in the group playing with the third faction? These thoughts were moving too slowly, though. That moment his vision was broken with a blinding sensation of light.

Kirito landed firmly on a hard surface below him, and felt a tingling sensation as the light wash over his body, and disappeared like a cloud of pure fog. His head was in pain from the shock and landing, and he now had no idea where he was, or also who he was with. It seemed like all was calm and lonely for now, because as he reacquired his vision and wits, Kirito failed to hear anything around him. At least anything that moved.

Instead, his new home seemed rather comfortable, and very visually pleasing. The room was made of a soft white color, an almost cream that accented the sunlight pouring in from the windows very well. The floor shined from the rays of light, and the waxy chrome finish over all the walls and furniture left little to hide in the idea that this was in fact a science fiction setting.

Kirito raised his hand to grab the arm of a futuristic chair that was right beside his landing, and lifted himself off the ground and onto his wobbly feet. He held up a hand to give his throbbing head further comfort, and tried regaining more of his senses.

"Man, Mathis wasn't kidding. This is the weirdest feeling I've ever had inside one of these things." Neither the NerveGear helmet, nor the AmuShpere technology gave him an experience quite like this, because now, for the first time he actually felt his full body and mind properly relocated to a brand-new universe made entirely of the virtual world.

Kirito chose to walk towards the large bay window directly in front of him. The futuristic living room provided him with a beautiful three hundred and sixty-degree view of wondrous sights all around, but the largest sight to behold sat just outside the wide glass. A mural of black starlit sky, and a wispy white ground made entirely of clouds combined to form a view of wonder. It gave Kirito the impression that this structure had to be very high in altitude along whatever planet he found himself located on. Even more so, He could see solid steel towers piercing right out from the cloudy floor of the planet, and which looked like they were all launching into the stars above due to their seemingly impressive height and stature.

They were not together though, like a city. The towers looked spaced out over several miles. He wondered if this planet appeared on the original game and turned to quickly locate the nearest door for an exit.

"Right, well now I'm all alone, and I have no idea where anyone is…and for that matter, I don't even know how to use this stupid interface." Kirito waved his hands around and realized that no flashing interface or command screen was made readily available. He was looking through two regular eyes, almost as if he were still in his regular body. "Great, I bet it's some stupid voice command. I probably have to issue a command just to make anything appear. Great, how am I supposed to get anything open without a menu!?"

"Ah, I'm glad to see you finally showed up, Kazuto."

Kirito turned around to finally locate the door out of this strange living room space, and soon found a figure emerging out from that very same hallway with an alert presence. The man who spoke had a grey outfit, almost befitting the position of a ruler or military leader, and also wore black pants with a solid head of sharp grey hair.

Finally, he appeared to be the very spitting image of the developing company's owner, and with a trim beard of short facial hair surrounding a cruel and unusual smile, Peter Mathis walked down the small set of steps and joined his new guest inside the waiting room.

"You're…Peter Mathis." Kirito had no reason to not recognize the Game Maker's face, and quickly felt himself growing that much more hostile to his new host. "Where are we? Where are my friends?"

"Ah, selfless thinking. I'm surprised a gaming veteran such as yourself chose not to ask me about the curious faction provided in your very unique entrance into the game."

"Selfless?" Kirito followed Mathis's words, and remembered the odd third choice of faction he was greeted by at the start of his play-through. He set his foot down. "Okay, so why did I get a third faction? And while I'm at it, what the hell _is_ this faction, anyway?"

Mathis smiled and laid his hand on top of a very modern looking lampshade to feel its soft touch. "It was a faction I designed specifically for you, Kazuto Kirigaya, or I apologize… _Kirito?_ I had it and this entire planet crated just for your very own tutorial into my new game."

"Why?" Kirito was quick to answer that one. "Why am I getting some weird special treatment?"

"Why?" Mathis repeated back. "Well, why not? After all, you were the victor of Akihiko Kayaba's _Sword Art Online_ , you were the one to take down the overly corrupt mind of Sugou Nobuyuki and his blossoming _ALfheim Online_ , and you were the one to stop the mass murdering Deathgun inside of _GunGale Online_. So why not call you here to my game, and ask you to perform under my company's favor?"

Kirito did not like the fact that this man had such a specific amount of background knowledge from all his past virtual campaigns, and as a result backed up a few feet towards the window. "It's pretty creepy when you realize you have a stalker…who cares if I did all those things? It's not like I did any of it all by myself."

"Oh, I almost forgot, where are my manors?" Mathis turned for one of the chairs inside the living space and took a seat as he decided to rest his legs for just a brief moment. "Your friends are all in here with you! No need to worry at all."

"…" Kirito ignored his kindness, and immediately thought about their safety and well-being. "Are we still in Tokyo?"

"Well yes and no…" Mathis grinned and gestured out the window. "We're in the Star Wars Universe, but sure, your physical body is still at our Japanese headquarters, safe with all your friends'"

Kirito decided not to move forward, and continued lingering around the back side of the room. This distance provided the two with a long pause, and gave way for Mathis's next thought. "I watched you in that Gun Gale campaign of yours. The Bullet of Bullets, right? You and the green haired girl outsmarted that Death Gun in quite the showdown."

"Sinon's a pro." Kirito was quick to stand up for a friend. "I woulda been nothing in that game without her. All my friends are important to me."

"I suppose so." Mathis kicked a leg over the other and nodded. "She was a pro, but you were… _unique_. You played that game of guns and ammunition so differently than the rest. Do you remember how?"

"…" Kirito remembered how he played it. He used a photon sword instead of a regular gun, which should have left him totally vulnerable to long ranged attacks. But it did not.

Mathis carried on. "Ah, you caught it just now, didn't you? That game is not very different from my own. You may use sword skills in this universe as well, once you get out and explore it that is. Hopefully then you'll be able to master the weaponry."

"Weaponry." Kirito narrowed his vision. "Like what?"

Mathis never answered, and instead reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out a tiny grey baton of sorts shining in a sleek chrome finish. He threw it across the room right at Kirito, but the object traveled very slowly, almost as if it were floating right for him. Mathis continued leaving his hand up as he appeared to be guiding the object along, and waited for the boy to catch it on the other side of the room. Kirito, meanwhile, nearly jumped with confusion as he fumbled with the catch, and barely secured the object in his hands. It felt just like the handle to a GGO photon sword, but looked just like the ones from those old Star Wars movies he loved as a kid.

Either way, it appeared that Kirito was not the only one possessing a weapon. Just then his eyes left the object in his hands as Mathis soared out of his seated position, and leapt across the room with an ignited blade of his own firmly between his fingers. The elder game creator looked like he was 50 years younger with the speed and energy used in his jump, and as he landed to swing right for Kirito, the boy rolled out from under the attack and repositioned himself at a new angle from his host.

Mathis now held a glowing yellow lightsaber, and a rather calm smirk resting on his face. He began pacing around a half circle, to which Kirito had no choice but to follow on his own in order to avoid being attacked. He had no idea how to even start the odd device laying in his hands, which left Mathis very amused and patient for a following move.

"So now what?" Kirito replied, angry from the blunt attack method showed off by Mathis. "If you're going to kill me, then why did you invite me into this game in the first place?"

"Hmm." Mathis laughed. "I don't plan on killing you here, Kirigaya. If you really can't tell, I'm waiting to see how you respond. Otherwise how else will I know if you're ready to sit at my side?"

"Your what?" Kirito did not like hearing that. "First you trap me in a game without saying a single thing about it, then you give me a job offer by trying to chop my head off?"

"I'm waiting to see the Black Swordsman show off his amazing sword skills." Mathis grew impatient. "The same skills that took down two companies and defeated a mass murderer. If that weapon in your hand is too unfamiliar for your touch, then you'll wait on this planet until you figure out how to USE _IT!_ "

He lunged forward and went to stick the point of his saber right through Kirito's chest, but just then the gaming veteran held up his blunt weapon handle, and powered on a matching yellow blade to counter the attack, and sent Mathis's blow off to the side.

The game master raised both hands and smiled. "Ah, splendid. Now we can begin our tests…we'll start with Form I." He stepped forward, and sent another attack right for Kirito's side, while at that same time the young black-haired fighter narrowly blocked it, and sent the attack right back.

Mathis pulled back, and nodded sarcastically. "Form I is _Shii Cho_ , also known as the Determination Form. Roughly every saber expert should be taught this form when first handed a lightsaber. I assume you're familiar with some of its arts? Shii Cho mimics regular sword skills, much like the ones found in SAO. It's used to give the combatant familiarity with all the basic attacks, strike zones, and other essences of battle."

He then waited for Kirito to stop walking before he made his next move. Mathis followed by stopping his own feet and placed them together. He now held his lightsaber in one hand out in front of his face, and parallel to his body. After receiving a queer expression from Kirito, Mathis spun the saber around with one hand, and lowered it to his side.

"Form II…" He replied. "Otherwise known as _Makashi_. It is the Contention Form, and as such is purely designated for Lightsaber vs. Lightsaber Combat." Mathis stepped up, and began using his lightsaber as a fencing foil as he tried making quick strikes and hacks all around Kirito's body, but also managed to keep his blade securely in one hand.

Kirito caught on to this, however, and as he missed an attack of his own, he did manage to butt Mathis's handle with his own elbow, which almost sent the enemy's weapon rolling along the floor.

Mathis spun back around and smiled widely. "But alas! Makashi is best performed with a curved hilt…in time you will learn all this, as my second in command that is."

"What are you talking about?" Kirito retorted. "I'm not doing anything with you. I don't care who you are or what games you've made. I just want my friends, and I want out, _now._ "

Mathis sighed, and lowered his weapon to the slightest degree. "Of course, your friends. Fine, let me explain everything before I lay out my proposition." They locked blades one last time just for good measure, but then returned to their pacing circle, both keeping their lightsabers firmly switched to "on."

Mathis looked up to the ceiling. "Where to start, where to start…? Right now, 1000 volunteers are locked into playing Star Wars: The Old Republic Online. The Holocron users are experiencing the greatest equipment virtual reality has to offer, and as a result are expected to remain in the system until testing is complete."

"That's insane!" Kirito had half a mind to jump across the ring and strike once more, but kept yelling out instead. "Why the hell couldn't you just use your employees for your stupid experiment?"

"Right." He replied. "Well, why did you and 1000 players volunteer for the project? Because you were all eager. I needed eager players to help simulate the greatest gaming experience possible." He stopped for a brief moment, and turned the walking circle back the other way, just to be sure that Kirito was paying attention. "With 1000 volunteers, my company's two head developers are leading the primary two factions in a live action war between the Republic and the Sith Empire. Together, they will unlock all the mechanics and possibilities offered by this game, and turn this product into the greatest thing the world has ever seen."

Kirito bit down with raw anger, but let Mathis carry on. "As for your friends, it appears that they were all limited to the generic two choices on their way into the game? My guess is that they were all sorted into either side, and are currently fighting in the war…which now brings me to you, and your unique case."

Mathis powered off his lightsaber, and stopped walking as he held up an open hand. "Kirigaya, I know what future you wish to have with virtual gaming. I know you wish to develop a game of your own. Technology of your own. I need you to challenge my two employees for the spot at my side. I wish…I wish to groom you for a career in developing virtual technologies."

"You…?" Kirito stopped walking too, and held his light saber loosely in the air. He had no idea how Mathis knew any of this, and the entire time this whole experience left him totally out of place and out of mind. He could feel his brain tingling too, almost as if a chill of air was trying to break through his skin, but after a long while, nothing happened.

He powered down his own yellow weapon, and spoke up. "If I play your stupid game, will I be allowed to see my friends?"

Mathis smirked. "Kirito, if they can help sway your decision, I hope you find all of them! But no, I cannot promise you will find them. You must do that on your own."

Kirito stepped forward with a confused expression. "On my own? But I have no idea how this game is even played!? Why can't I see them now?!"

"Because." He replied, bluntly. "For now, they are not your concern."

Kirito threw the powered down metal lightsaber hilt at Mathis's head, but watched as it barely missed and flew by his shoulder. "THEN WHAT IS MY CONCERN!?"

Mathis closed his eyes, and held up his open right hand as he went to carry on.

"Simple. Getting off this planet, and into the real game."

Finally, Mathis powered on an intense source of energy from his hand, and sent a shock wave of air right at Kirito's chest. The young gamer never had time to move through his fit of rage, and took the hit dead on as it sent him flying toward the wall and smashed him into the hard white steel that furnished the perimeter of the room.

Then, as he landed in pain, Kirito's head lowered to the ground, and a dizzy view clouded his vision as the lasting site of Mathis approaching turned into nothing but blackness.

* * *

 **A little shorter chapter, and it was all written around one scene, but it's an important one!**

 **I hope you're enjoying it! I've finished the first act of the story over on Microsoft Word (About 1/3 of the story), and I'm starting to fall in love with the writing process on this one. This was a two year project in the making, so I hope you're able to stick around. Until next time!**

 **(P.S. Two year wait after getting the game Star Wars Battlefront II and they _FINALLY_ add my two favorite characters in the entire Star Wars Universe. Nothing but Obi Wan and Grievous for me!) **


	5. 4: A Strange New World

**Author's Note: Chapter Four is here! We come to see where our hero is left after that attack from Mathis, and hopefully he is able to find a way out of his sticky situation!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Four - A Strange New World

* * *

Kirito awoke with a slow daze as his eyes finally opened inside another mysterious room. His head felt much heavier than before, and he could just about feel a knot on the back of it as he made contact with a blunt object.

It was more accurately a wall. His head was also still ringing after the game master and CEO of _Immortal Gaming_ , Peter Mathis, used some bizarre technique to slam Kirito into the wall of the room from before, and left him to fall unconscious. After further investigation from raising his head off the soft ground, however, the young man soon realized that he was still in the same living space from before, only it now appeared that he was all alone.

Kirito lowered his feet onto the ground, but kept one hand firmly placed on the back of his skull, and let his eyes lazily wonder around the floor beneath his boots. He had no idea where Mathis had run off to, which could have been taken as both good and bad news.

"Great." He told himself with a slow drawl. "What if that guy's still running around somewhere? I don't know if I'd be able to fight him like this…" He remembered fighting him in the first place, and also recalled throwing his one and only weapon at the face of his enemy right before he met his head with the back of the wall. Kirito shot up from the white floor and tried locating the blunt lightsaber handle somewhere on the floor, but with no luck, the object appeared missing along with Mathis.

"Figures." He told himself and landed back down on the ground. "I was stupid not to keep the thing…now how am I supposed to fight Mathis?" He thought about a second confrontation with the CEO for just a brief moment, but then turned his eyes over to the door, and after a very long pause, one of his eyebrows rose up with curiosity. "Or…what if he's not even here anymore. If that's the case, then I have absolutely no idea what to do."

Kirito let his face fall deeper into his hands as his elbows now rested on his knees. He had no idea where Mathis was, and had even less of a hint as to where any of his friends were, or for that matter a way off this planet. He was stranded with no map or weapon, and had no information to work with whatsoever.

"Man, I could really use someone like Yui right about now…"

"Well, perhaps I could try lending a hand instead?"

Kirito shot up and stepped away from the wall as he quickly turned at the sound of a new voice inside the room. The figure before him did not appear as a regular human, but instead an altered blue body that looked like a ghost or hologram. It also revealed the sight of a tall, muscular man with sharp scholarly features, and steel-gray hair that left a strand hang over his forehead.

It was the spitting image of Heathcliff, the same avatar that lorded over the players of Sword Art Online several years ago. Although, the previous owner of that very avatar also went by another name.

"Akihiko Kayaba." Kirito's vision widened with great surprise as his former enemy and childhood role model stared him down like some sort of hologram. Kayaba's Heathcliff avatar wore a smug grin over his face, and gave Kirito a few moments to collect his thoughts. "I take it I'm just imagining you, or something like last time?"

"Oh?" Kayaba pondered. "Well I'm not sure. I might be real, or maybe you _are_ imagining me…this game's environment is not easy to read. I can't say that even I know how I got here, but like ALO and SAO before it, my conscious was burned onto the internet upon my death at your hand. I suppose this is just my data reaching out to a trigger that you sent it. Perhaps you tried summoning me without even knowing it?"

Kirito's head now began hurting even more, and all these older men with very formalized thoughts and sentences were not making things easier. "Agh, can I just get a straight answer from someone?! I need off this planet, and out of this game. My friends are gone, and I have no idea where to find any of them."

"Ah, I gathered that much." He looked around, and noticed no sign of Asuna or Kirito's usual allies. He then nodded. "Well, I cannot say I know their location, but I am quite familiar with this _current_ map you find yourself on. I assume we're on a planet of sorts?"

"Yea…yea!" Kirito felt a little sliver of hope taking his mind. "Mathis made it sound like I was trapped on a planet, and I have to do some tutorial to get off." He had dozens of further questions that needed to be answered, but for now it appeared that Kayaba could find a way off this planet, all in hopes of getting him back on track to finding his friends.

Kayaba nodded. "He appears to be right. I sense several structures around here designed much like this building we're in now. Perhaps we should leave and see what they hold?"

Kirito made one last glance around the room, in hopes of finding the lightsaber he threw at Mathis. He then sighed, and nodded. "Well, I don't have a weapon, but I guess that's not a bad place to start."

Kayaba agreed, and turned for the door. "Very well, I can stay as long as you need me for. From what I gathered, this is in fact the Star Wars game that Peter Mathis created, but this current planet was not released with the initial launch of the game, much like that bizarre faction you're representing." He gestured to Kirito's grey health bar and name, and let the young gamer make a response.

Kirito raised an eyebrow as they passed through the door. "A new planet? Why would he add one just for me? I thought he was just making that up…"

Kayaba shook his head. "I take it you're quite familiar with the regular universe for this game? It appears this planet's data was the last entry for the game. It's called _Mortis._ "

"Mortis?" Kirito repeated, almost accompanied with a hint of anxiety.

Kayaba nodded with a faint smile. "The data on Mortis says it's a realm of great power which contains 'dreamlike environs'. It cannot be mapped accurately, and even its landmarks will appear in different locations frequently to the visitor's eyes. The daytime is said to be a time of peace where luminous creatures roam about lush fields, green mountains, and stunning vistas. Furthermore, dense forests, molten caverns, and floating mountains above the surface are also some of the different biospheres we may encounter on your search for your next clue."

Kirito felt slightly better after hearing Kayaba's description, but just then they both came across a set of three lone elevators. Without wasting time on further theories, the black-haired boy pressed a button next to the closest one. "Fine by me, let's see what Mortis has to offer. If I find a nice weapon, I may like this game just a little better than before."

After making their way down an impossibly long elevator, Kirito and Kayaba emerged at the foot of the building, which opened up into a great hall of sorts covering the entire floor plan of the tall structure above. Kirito spotted a door right ahead, but covered his eyes as it appeared to be glowing very intensely due to the fact that there seemed to be a missing door over the entrance.

Kayaba's grin continued. "The light on the surface of this planet is said to have a healing quality, though I would have expected that light to come from its nearby sun instead. I wonder why the surface glows like that?"

"Beats me." Kirito replied bluntly. He carried on walking towards the luminescent entrance out to the open planet's surface, and with his valuable ghastly ally at his tail, Kirito ventured into the unknown landscape of planet Mortis. Just as Kayaba had described, the air had a fuzzy feeling to it, almost like it was regenerating everything inside his body. Kirito felt healthier than he had ever felt before inside a video game world, and if it was not for the blinding sun overhead, he may have actually earned a better view of the surface itself.

Kirito held one hand over his eyes like a visor, and then let out a moan as he tried collecting his internal compass. "This stinks! I can't even see anything! The ground _and_ sun here are both glowing like crazy!"

Kayaba nodded, but then looked up towards the sun, as if he was not feeling the same effects as his partner. "Really? Well this is quite the view to be missing. It's a lot prettier than I was anticipating."

"Mgh…" Kirito rolled his eyes briefly, and then turned to his partner with an angry expression. "Okay what's up with you? You're not acting like you usually do. Normally you're all serious, but now you seem way to smug to be the regular Kayaba."

Kayaba shrugged and tried looking the blinded player in the eye. "I'm sorry, but I understand you seem to be having a rough time without your friends. I'm merely trying to keep both our spirits up…" He then looked out across the blank green field before them, and noticed little nodes of trees and rocky outcrops decorating the wide horizon with sparse obstacles. "Have you figured out how to play the game yet?"

Kirito turned to face the same direction. "No…I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up."

Kayaba nodded. "Well, perhaps you are over thinking it. Maybe it's something easier than a swipe or click in the air. Have you tried just thinking about an interface?"

"Well no, but that's just…stupid." He replied firmly. Why would he not just be able to swipe left or right like in SAO, and then summon up his virtual menu like always. Mathis could never make it any easier than that…could he?

Kayaba interjected once again while Kirito was thinking, and also held out a hand to collect some of the sun's warm light. "Think about Peter Mathis, and that miraculous ability he used to disarm you…do you wonder how he did it?"

"Well I know how he did it." Kirito responded. "He probably has some perk or upper level advantage."

Kayaba rolled his eyes. "Yes, but _how?_ After all…what universe are we currently in?"

Kirito stopped walking for a brief second, and let that last thought linger in his mind. This was not SAO, so why was he trying so hard to play it like that? This was the Old Republic Online…this was _Star Wars._ Kirito knew how this fandom worked because he grew up playing its games and watching its films. He remembered his brief duel with Mathis upstairs, and how he felt so excited to finally be holding a lightsaber for the very first time (even if he did not appear to be enjoying it at the moment.) However, it was not just the lightsabers that Kirito thought about when he anticipated the release of a Star Wars game. He was also waiting for something else, he just had no idea how to use it yet.

Then, Kirito stood still, and took in a deep breath as he closed his eyes and felt the air wisp about him. He tried channeling all the energy he could inside his body, and then after a brief moment in time, he opened his eyes, and low and behold noticed a glowing interface surrounding his vison in a bright blue pattern.

"Wow." He laughed as he held a hand behind his head. "I hope I don't need that much focus every time I try opening it from here on out…" Kirito then began mentally controlling his settings, and also tried getting comfortable with the controls. His first observation seemed to prove one of Kayaba's theories right, as he noticed a blank mini map at the bottom right corner of his view. He followed up by venturing into his inventory, and then realized his body was not totally empty of items. The first artifact he found was a long metal rod of sorts, almost the length of a regular sword. It was labeled as an "electroblade training sword", and appeared to be some lower class of a melee weapon. Beside it was a single piece of paper, perhaps a letter of sorts.

Kirito equipped the sword to his person, and drew the letter from his bag. He quickly opened it up and read its contents out loud.

 _"Kazuto,_

 _By now you have probably wondered out into Mortis on your own. I hope you put your training blade to good use. Your first mission will be to gather the proper materials needed to craft a lightsaber. I felt it would be poor taste to give you the same one from before. You will have to locate the main ingredient that goes into a lightsaber hilt in order to make your first weapon, and you will have to do it quickly if you ever wish to join the real fight any time soon. I will have this letter set a way point for you to follow in your quest log, and hopefully after completing the mission, you will exit Mortis and join me in ruling the game._

 _Until then…_

 _Peter Mathis"_

"Ass." Kirito threw the letter away, and decided on leaving the third item safely inside his bag. It appeared to be a black and grey lightsaber hilt, very simple to both touch and view. He also noticed after the new waypoints took his screen, his map never actually changed. All he had now were a few annoying sentences that outlined his tasks, only none of them instructed him on where to go first.

Now it was time for Kayaba to speak. "Well, I don't know about you, but I feel like one of those towers there might be our best bet."

Kirito followed his finger, and then located two large darkened towers looming in the distance. One sat off to the east, right under the golden sun. Its walls looked just as white as the tower that Kirito and Kayaba came from, but it almost looked like stone from this distance. The other, located a little further to the west, was a darker, black stone, if he could tell by the blinding light that is. Either way, the lighter tower sat closer, so Kirito the Black Swordsman turned for the east and made way for the mystery waypoint.

* * *

Once they finally arrived, and after passing through sweeping hills of beautiful lush green forests, the tower of white stone finally blocked out the hovering sun over their heads, which at least gave Kirito time to rest his arms covering his eyes and gather the view of the tower lurking over the shadows.

It looked like it was made of earthly white stone, but not in an artificial manor. It seemed to look natural, except for the fact that it appeared like a giant stone spear head piercing through the ground below. Its white exterior was rigid like an arrow head, but its surface shined like pale marble.

Kirito felt very intrigued the moment he walked up to its open entrance, and as he stepped inside, he came across a hollowed-out room that lead all the way up to the top, well past the clouds. Along the now polished inner walls, which in contrast to the outside actually _did_ look man-made. At the top of the tower sat twelve evenly spaced windows, and only one had direct sunlit coming through.

Kirito began scratching his chin, and noticed the entire pillar of rock was totally hollowed out all the way to the top, and the exact same smooth inner surface continued to the roof of the tower

"Well, I wonder how I'm supposed to…?" He went to ask Kayaba for some extra brain power, but just then Kirito noticed a square platform was jutting out of the wall, and looked to be wide enough for a person to stand on. It still towered well over 100 feet above their heads, but if he could only trim the distance by half, he might be able to reach it and figure out how to continue up the tower.

However, his current mind was falling short of a plan. "Agh…well, got any ideas, Kayaba?"

The former Heathcliff of SAO looked up to see the lone square platform as well, and then thought out loud. "Hmm, well how did you open up your inventory? I wonder if this takes the same level of brain power."

Kirito looked right at Kayaba with an almost annoyed expression. It was almost like Kayaba knew how to do it, but judging by his still smirking face he was holding it all as a secret from his partner. Either way, Kirito stood still, and closed his eyes. He tried clearing his mind to focus on a strategy, but one lone example that came to mind was the embarrassing thought of the first time he went on an adventure with his close friend Lisbeth from SAO. The two of them had gotten trapped in a large dragon pit, and Kirito's initial instincts that time were to jump along the wall and traverse his way out of the cave.

Now, he let out a deep breath, and followed with a sigh. "If this works, Lis owes me lunch sometime." Kirito bent his knees, and shot up from the ground like a rocket, and as he went flying through the air, he could feel all that energy from his journey outside expelling with his flight. The air around him tingled, and his mind focused only on landing atop the stone square platform above, and just as his arching height passed over his target, Kirito quickly landed his feet on the platform, and rested his hands firmly on the wall in front of his face.

"Woah! I-I can't believe that actually worked!" He turned around, but kept his hands flat against the wall, and looked out to see Kayaba smiling from down below, barely able to see his arm waving in support. Kirito meanwhile turned his entire body around, and tried finding another clue to make it into the next level, but just then with his luck, a second square to his upper right slowly popped out of the wall, and made way for a person to land on the second level.

"Kirito felt ready and energized now that he seemed to crack the trick of the tower, but just as he went to prep his feet for launch, he felt a jerk coming from the platform he was currently on, and noticed it was now slowly retreating back into the wall. The gamer pedaled his feet with fear of falling 100 feet below, and had no choice but to prematurely jump into the air, and try landing on the platform without any planning like last time. However, due to the great amount of energy left over from before, he made it 100 feet higher on the next platform with relative ease.

"Alright!" He smiled and patted the wall. "This is gonna be easy if I just keep my eyes on the next platform." Kirito looked up at roughly the next 100-foot line higher in the air, but as he tried finding an open platform, nothing stood out on the next row. Even more bizarrely, the one at his feet was not returning into the wall like last time. He half expected it to slide back into place by now, but nothing happened at all once he stood there in a continued wait anticipating another eventful leap.

"What the hell!?" He yelled angrily, trying to alert Kayaba down below. Kirito never heard a response, and realized he was probably on his own for now until he made it back down safely. He wanted to ram his head into the stone wall in front of his head, but just as he tried, a carving of the number "2" sitting below his feet distracted his thoughts. He thought to himself with further confusion. Kirito could only guess that this was the second stone platform on the series, so other than the fact that they had to be numbered numerically, the clue appeared as nothing to his feeble mind.

 _~An Hour Later_

Kirito was half asleep as one leg dangled off the platform ready to fall 200 feet back down to Kayaba. The lone creator of SAO was still standing at the bottom with a smug expression as Kirito rested on his tiny platform above. Kirito had no idea how long it had been, but just then heard a loud crack inside the wall, and noticed a new vision taking shape above his left eye. As he looked up further, the third platform pushed out of the wall, and caused the one he was currently standing on to slowly disappear at a timed interval. Kirito noticed they appeared to be on the same loop, and realized he had to jump now, or suffer a hard fall down below. He powered on his mighty legs, and expelled all his energy from his stamina bar as the third platform settled underneath his landing and gave him a new home for the time being.

As he expected, Kirito saw the number three sitting under his feet, but even more alarming, the sun that poured through cracks and single windows dotting around the tower walls appeared to have moved slightly to the west. He felt like it had been hours since the last time he jumped, but judging by the movement of the sun's rays, it had to be shorter than that.

Then, it slowly hit him as he looked 100 feet over his head and saw no open platform ready to be landed on. Kirito was right about these platforms being numbered with a timed loop, but he never had the idea of putting those two things together.

"I get it now…every hour, one of those squares on the next ring is going to pop out, while the one I'm on right now is going to go back in. But, if that's the case…then that means…"

Kirito counted his platform as the third in the set, and looked up even higher to see many more levels still waiting for him to make it up onto their floor, and eventually onward toward the top. Now realizing he had many more platforms to cover, he also did the math and realized each one would have a solid hour in between jumps, which left him furious with rage as he cried out into the echoing chamber.

"THAT MEANS I'M GONNA BE STUCK HERE ALL DAY!"

* * *

 **Not even a hyperbole, literally all-day! I hope the veteran gamer Kirito is ready for several hours of platforming! I also realize this chapter wasn't very action-y, so I'll try to be quick with releasing chapter 5.**

 **Until next time!**


	6. 5: The Storm

**Author's Note: Chapter Five is here! ...Boy I'm really starting to sound like All Might on these chapter notes.**

 **Anyway, we leave off with Kirito trapped in the middle of a tower during some odd tutorial. Can he make it off the planet Mortis? Also, bonus points to anyone who caught the use of Mortis in this chapter. Very interesting planet in the Star Wars Universe...**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Five - The Storm

* * *

"Ahh…haa…Finally."

As the sun passed over the lower horizon, Kirito noticed its yellow rays were now dwindling away as day soon turned into night. He had finally made it to the top of the tower and was now crawling through a hole in the ceiling that opened into a large chamber at the summit of the tower. Kirito had been jumping along the inner stone structure of white for hours on end, and as suspected, used up the entire day to make it to the top. This building on the eastern front of Mortis was now lying beneath an evening sun as the soldier in black lied on the ground in victory, breathing a sigh of relief as he finally achieved his miniature mission for the day.

He rolled over on his back the moment his entire body passed through the trap door into the roof of the tower, and let out an everlasting breath of relief once his head hit the rocky floor beneath him. He never even thought to observe his new surroundings, because most of his mental energy was just now recovering from all the patient due diligence that happened moments before. He now wondered if Kayaba was still waiting at the bottom of the tower like before, but made no effort to look down through the hole and check for himself. He could however, see that the pointed ceiling of the tower over his head did carry a few small windows, and judging by the view of the room, he could also tell that night had finally passed over Mortis.

"Okay, well this has to be right." Kirito sat up tall and began rubbing the back of his head in order to try and wake his now tired brain. The room was faded in shadow due to the evening turning into night, which left the boy narrowing his vision to see through the approaching darkness all around. However, as he leaned up, he actually noticed a faint glow coming from the far end of the round room that formed the rooftop chamber, and when he gathered his full wits at the sight of the source, his hands immediately reached for the black training sword strapped to his back.

A supernatural creature of sorts, with a long wingspan, green eyes, and colored feathers, sat idly by watching his every move with a comfortable patience resting in its gaze. It almost looked like a bird, but lager. A griffin? He had no idea, and never even expected to see a creature like this lurking inside a dungeon of any Star Wars game. It had a radiant golden glow pulsating from its body, but continued to lazily look on as Kirito prepped for a battle that was probably never going to happen.

"Oh-kay then…" Kirito had already drawn his sword, and held it firmly in his hands, but never actually stepped forward to attack the beast inside the chamber. He stood by, and watched as the large bird slowly turned its head, and looked over to a lone pedestal sitting in a soft moonlit beam that shot out from a lone window above.

Then, the majestic but languished creature began licking its paw, and left Kirito to go about his deeds. Meanwhile, the now nervous Kirito kept his sword tightly in his grip, and marched slowly up to the podium at the end of the room. He kept his walk slow and measured, in order to avoid startling the guardian of the room. Then, after a few slow paces, he eventually lost his patience and quickened his approach.

Finally, he arrived at a small black bowl, carved out of a short alter of shiny rock that resembled obsidian. Quite the contrast to the white marble room all around, this bowl seemed to hold a tiny crystal of sorts sitting inside a lone pool of water. It was glossy white, almost a fog color, and although it came to a sharp point, the majority of its natural cuts were very smooth. Kirito reached inside the bowl, and took the crystal off its resting spot, but as he did a flash of green light illuminated right behind his head.

"Oh great…" Kirito turned to hear the screeching griffin rattling off like an uncontrollable beast, and just as he raised his weapon in defense, the large bird charged forward, and cornered him right in front of the stone monument. However, as it sat there in its glowing menace, the beast let out a second loud roar, and reared its head backward to spawn a slow building cloud of black right out of its eyes. While Kirito prepped himself for an even bigger fight than he previously expected, the large monster began transforming before his very eyes, and as white feathers turned into black matte scales, a new beast awoke in the shadows.

"Are we still in Star Wars?" Kirito questioned the beast spawning into a game set in a galaxy far far away and tried his best to grasp the situation entirely with his weapon still firmly in his grip.

The creature was now a demon of a strange appearance. A gargoyle with jet black scales and piercing red eyes. Supernatural in appearance with a long wingspan, dark skin, and large fangs that Kirito never expected to see inside of Star Wars, but maybe it appeared more plausible than the griffin from before. Its presence had to be the pure embodiment of evil, with an apparent contrast in its lighter half being a sign of good. When the creature stood tall, its final form was greater than five meters tall, with a wingspan of over eleven meters wide, and a head the size of a full player.

Kirito rolled out of the way as the monster slapped its clawed hand right on the podium containing the small pool of water, and as he dodged the attack, the swordsman swiped his blade in a swift presence and rolled right back to confront the beast head on. He took the point of the yellow charged electro staff, and jabbed the monster right in its right eye to cause a terrible shriek of pain to erupt throughout the chamber. Kirito plugged his ears and spun out of the way a second time in order to dodge the mighty tail coming right for his head, which was actually harder to dodge than the claws, and only left him with a vertical jump as his single option of escape.

Kirito landed on his feet, and then realized the monster's wings were not just for show, because although the rooftop chamber was concealed with a taller, more pointed gable of rock, it did have enough room to fly around in an uncontrolled frenzy. Kirito swiped at its wings while the beast made a swooping decent, and he managed to nick it right on the end as the monster barrel rolled out of the way and spun out into the side of the stone wall. He then went to run for the exit, but noticed his previous jump caused the small milky white crystal to fall out of his pocket, and land in the center of the floor.

He eyed the mysterious rock with great anger, but ran for it anyway, even knowing the gargoyle would run in too, in order to end his life. However, as he watched the large winged beast flying right for him, Kirito also saw the hole back down through the tower sitting right beyond the crystal, and just under the enemy all at once.

Kirito grinned, and gave the air one last wave with his sword, and then followed by sliding across the slick marble floor, and grabbed the crystal as he now aimed for the one way exit down below. The fell beast lowered its talons, but missed in its attack, which allowed Kirito to continue sliding, and slip out of the hole to fall back down to the ground floor.

Now falling, Kirito quickly realized he had no way down that would spare him from an untimely death, but as he now clutched the crystal in his left hand, he found enough time to open his inventory, place the item safely inside his bag, and close out before seeing Kayaba and the ground below quickly approaching before his view. He would have given his old acquaintance a look of fear and uncertainty, but as he heard the quickening beast approaching from behind, he only let out a small grin, back flipped through mid-air, and landed on the back of the monster just in time to drive it into the ground and break his fall to avoid death altogether.

Kayaba stood back, and looked down at a cloudy pile of rubble and rock, and noticed the now dead gargoyle was nowhere to be seen behind the smoke of the crash. Instead, he only saw Kazuto Kirigaya emerge with a sarcastic smile, holding his electro sword in one hand over his shoulder, and a tiny milky clear rock in the palm of his other.

Kayaba smiled, and Kirito tossed the crystal gently in the air to make his reply. "Okay, that didn't take too long, did it?"

* * *

As night fell over the mysterious planet of Mortis, the lush green landscape from before now appeared more like a plain of despair and lamentation. The previous plants that lined vibrant green jungles and fields now appeared withered and dead, and the few stars that shone in the black sky were unidentifiable from all the murky clouds looming overhead. Scalding rains swept the terrain in a far distant sight, making longtime survival without shelter on this planet presumably impossible.

"This is hopeless." Kirito told himself. "I beat the stupid boss, and got my crystal. Now where do I need to go?" He wanted to avoid the rain clouds as much as possible, so either inside a building or underneath the ground's surface seemed to be his best options.

Heathcliff nodded, and kept two sharp eyes glued on the horizon. "Yes, that does look like a nasty storm as well. We should avoid looking for our next mission in that direction if at all possible."

"Well duh!" Kirito replied with a hint of irritation on his breath. "Mathis said I'd be able to construct my light saber and get off this rock once I found my crystal."

"Did he?" Heathcliff pondered. "I thought he only said to gather the crystal."

"What do you…?" Kirito turned to face his ghastly follower. "Hold on, are you trying to give him a defense or something? This whole mission has gotten way out of hand. I found the crystal. I want off this planet."

Heathcliff shook his head. "No, I'm not defending Mathis, I'm merely giving you more credit than you give yourself."

"…" Kirito remained silent while the SAO commander carried on. "Mathis gave you a clue and a way point for retrieving your crystal, but only told you that it would be the key to your escape from this planet. Perhaps he is so confident in your skills that he knows you'll find a way off it yourself?"

"I doubt it." Kirito replied bluntly. "He seems to like me, but there's a reason he put me through this tutorial. He knows I'm lacking something vital to his plan."

"You think so?" Heathcliff gave an honest reply. "Well maybe his confidence is directed at a different device. Perhaps it's not you at all, but maybe he has confidence in his game to guide you on your way out."

"What does that even mean?" Kirito went to argue further, but remembered the first this he did once he made it out of the tower with Kayaba. He triggered something inside his mind to unlock is inventory, and then remembered how he did it. It was almost like some outside power opened it for him, and while Kirito felt a very loose amount of control over this energy, he still had the power to wield some of it. Finally, his last thought rested on the very first encounter he had with Kayaba back in the tower, before they made it out onto the planet's surface. He was originally concerned with how Kayaba's body managed to spawn there in the first place, but retrieved a small memory from something Kayaba said after his arrival.

"Perhaps you tried summoning me without even knowing it."

That was it. Kayaba had to know something that Kirito did not. He had no idea how the virtual ghost of SAO was following him around, but maybe it had something to do with the power he was currently trying to control. He then turned to face his follower with a rhetorical question. "I can get off this planet by myself, can't I?"

Heathcliff's avatar grinned, and simply nodded to give Kirito time for a second question. Kirito, however, turned toward the blackened rain cloud before asking it. "I have to go to one of those towers…beyond the rain…don't I?"

Heathcliff smirked, and raised an eyebrow. "Certainly, but do you know how…?"

"Ugh…" Kirito started walking in the last direction he ever considered taking. "I have a feeling…"

An hour passed now as dark violet rain drops swirled around the barren hills like a rampaging hurricane. Kirito had to keep both of his hands above his heads at all times to keep powering his palms with the strength required to shield his body from the acidity outside. This storm was nowhere near finished, and the lone hero could barely make out a grey outline of a similar building from before in the distance. The ghost of Heathcliff followed with a face of determined amusement as his younger colleague, Kirito, continued trekking through mud and wet acid on the ground, but was left with hidden surprise as he noticed none of the hostile forces around him were doing anything to harm Kirito or his health.

Kirito, on the other hand, was less amused by this entire predicament than his elder follower. "What's so funny? You waiting for my hands to melt off?"

Kayaba shouted back through the storm. "If I said yes, would you feel betrayed?"

Kirito never turned around, and only rolled his eyes as he kept up his march on route for the building. He knew something had to be in this structure, a quest, a ship, something. He even considered a machine to craft his lightsaber, but all his mind would show him was a flashing light on his internal map. He had to use the same mental strength that he used to open his inventory, only this time twice as much was required to hold on to the way point in his head, and keep his hands up above his body. He also required the same amount of strength used to climb the tower for his crystal, and the same vision he used to take down the monstrous bird guarding his token. He felt a rhythm to his tasks, and figured they could not be randomly placed in order. There had to be a reason for the tasks laid out before him, and just as the doors of the tower drew nearer, Kayaba laughed through the winds.

"We found the door…I was hoping it wouldn't distract you from the whirling lighting up above your head."

"What!?" Kirito raised his head to see dark blue clouds charge with fierce lightning. He heard a crackling sound from the clouds above, and rolled forward to dodge a bolt of deep blue electricity aimed for his bod. He let a few acid rain drops fall on his back and legs, and only yelled gently as he raised his forcefield back above his head, protecting him from any more damage. He knew a second wave of lightning had to be imminent, but kept his focus on the door to the north.

"I can't dodge the acid rain _and_ the lightning…but I gotta get out of this storm." Kirito slowly stood from the muddy sand dune, and eagerly anticipated a second bolt of lightning to come crashing down any moment. He kept his elbows locked above his head, and his eyes locked on the building, and while Heathcliff simply watched on in amusement, Kirito let out a great big yell through the rain.

"AGH!...I GOTTA FIND MY FRIENDS!" Kirito shot a cloud of pure air out of his hands, and sent the column of energy soaring above his head to pause the rain in that one individual area. It also diluted the clouds above, and sent the lightning that was charging on a small pause. He darted forward with all the strength in his feet, and as little drops of stinging pain seared through his cloths and scalp, it was already too late to do any lasting damage.

Kirito landed on the other side of the door, and fell to the ground with two exhausted lungs of empty air. He grasped his injured shoulders, but also sighed with relief as he could determine it was now safe to rest. He also heard footsteps from behind, and felt Kayaba grinning with satisfaction in the frame of the door.

Heathcliff would have clapped his hands together, if he were a corporeal being that is. Instead he gave Kirito a nod. "Well that was an impressive ride, even more so than slaying that beast from before."

Kirito propped himself up with one of the walls, and rose slowly to his feet. "How did you know…"

Kayaba felt the amusement leave his face, and stood over Kirito with a concerned expression. The young gamer carried on. "You knew I would be able to unlock the way points on my own, and you knew I had the ability to kill that gargoyle _and_ stop the rain…how did you know."

Kayaba stayed still for a brief moment in time, and then sighed as he closed his eyes. "It's obvious, Kirito. You followed Mathis's trials, and won."

"Ahaaa…ahaaa…Trials?" Kirito spoke between breaths, but remained alert for any answer to take shape. Kayaba continued.

"The trials for your entry into his service…the Trials of a Jedi. Mathis had them designed to mimic the Star Wars series, and he knew you would have to pass them in order to wield his game's greatest power." Kayaba stepped forward, and looked up the empty column of the tower to only find a single elevator shaft, and slick chrome walls all the way to the top. "The first was a trial of your own _skills_. He knew you were the Master Swordsman from SAO, but he wanted to see how that power would translate in his game's universe. He set an obstacle course up for you, and topped it with a boss to slay for your prize. This recent feat was your _trial of courage_. You feared walking into this storm the entire evening, but you did it anyway once you knew that was the path to take. It was all a plan for you to unlock his game's greatest power…the power of _the Force_."

"The Force…" Kirito leaned back on the wall, and it took a lengthy moment to process the entire situation. He spoke with a hint of sarcasm after making the connection. "Yea…that's something I'm familiar with."

Heathcliff raised his right hand, and let his palm turn upward as he began looking at the air around the room. "It's the energy field that conjoins every space and object inside this game. It connects the real with the virtual, and surrounds everything with the power needed to play the game. It's what Mathis meant by his game being unlike anything else…it is his true masterpiece."

Kirito placed the back of his head on the wall behind him, and closed his eyes briefly. "So, he wanted me to figure out how to use it? He could have just told me that from the start."

"Come now, Kirito!" Kayaba laughed. "Where's the fun in that? If I just told you from the start that I was Heathcliff all along, then SAO would have been very boring for me as the creator."

"…" Kirito was very angry to hear Kayaba put it like that, but he also understood what he meant. This was Mathis's universe, and he was clearly waiting for someone to break the mold and utilize its full potential. He just wished that it was someone else other than him for once. "Fine…well then I guess my only way out is at the top of this tower."

"Yes." Kayaba nodded "I suppose it is. Well, Kirito, I hope you can find Peter Mathis in time to save your friends."

"Yea." Kirito laughed, and opened his eyes to find the former SAO avatar of Akihiko Kayaba no longer standing in front of him. He figured it had to be a ghost, programed to follow him by the Force system. Despite the loss of his in-game guide, however, Kirito carried on.

"I'll find Mathis alright. Then, I'll beat his stupid game once and for all."

* * *

 _~Meanwhile, in a darker corner of Mathis's large galaxy…_

Massive, dark-wooded trees sprung from the swampy black waters of Dromund Kaas that covered the entire surface of the planet. This unattractive home world in the Outer Rim was the political seat and vantage point of the Sith Empire. Although the swamps and landscapes were harsh, where some cases saw canyon-like groupings of foliage that were covered in vines and infested with creatures, the Empire dedicated this land as its prized capital for dominance over the Galaxy. The Sith Order was the opposition that threatened peace suggested by the Jedi. They were cruel beings, and warriors that chose to harness the absolute power of the Force for their own gain. Their proud Emperor and his loyal followers from the Holocron systems constituted the Sith Empire with Dromund Kaas as its capital, taming the planet's savage jungles and building up their Empire's strength from the skyscrapers of Kaas City.

At the heart of Kaas City was the Imperial Citadel, where dozens of lordly rulers of the Sith presided over their Empire, and saw every stake in their military campaign from the view of holocron maps depicting the entire galaxy. Here, two lone warriors of the Dark Side convene as they continue to watch a spiraling blue hologram sway back and forth from the center of their large meeting hall.

"With all due respect, Sir, you're trying too hard to take the Core." A tall Sith Lord leaned against a wall with a grin as he picked at his metal light saber's handle. The name **Trentyn** hovered over his head, and he spoke with a deep and forceful voice. "Hell, we managed to bring the Jedi Temple down before the game officially launched. Just keep reaching around the Galaxy at the rest of the Outer Rim. We'll surround the Jedi on all fronts by then."

The second man inside the room sat on a sizable chair at the foot of the hologram's table. His hair was short and black, nearly buzzed from the rest of his head. He kept one fist ball under his chin as he leaned over his right arm, and the other tapping on the left arm rest of his throne. Finally, the name **Lusac** glowed in red above his head. "We're getting nothing from the Outer Rim. The Coruscant Temple was only a message, and it happened before the two armies formed. We need to take out their Core planets before they counter us." The leader's eyes narrowed, but one could barely see their yellow glow through the cloudy black rims covering the skin around his eyelids.

The first man laughed. His white quiff of thick hair practically reflected the blue of the hologram. He sported different eyes than his leader's. The left was regular, and free of all harm and corruption, while the right was encased in a cybernetic eyepatch that covered a large gash stretching from his upper cheek all the way to his eyebrow.

Despite his beaten right eye and silvery hair, he looked very young, just like his powerful superior. Eventually, he stepped up from his perch. "Fine, I guess I can't blame you. You've sent quite the force to take out Alderaan, but are you sure they're the right target?"

The leader spoke again, with a young and scratchy voice, worn from yelling at the Sith Council moments ago. He kept looking at the blue spiraling galaxy hovering above his table. "For now. We don't need it, we just need a foot hold. It has the weakest defense so far…and she's there."

Trentyn howled, and turned for the door. "Well, it's a good thing you sent that new apprentice of yours to Korriban. The _Empire's Wrath_ can supervise new recruits from there, and squash any internal uprisings that may threaten our move."

Lusac agreed, but he sensed a hint of sarcasm coming off his underling's comment. "Yea…for now I'll send you to Tatooine. You can overlook our last defenses before we make our final move for the Republic."

"Glad you're sending me _somewhere_." Trentyn smirked as he read the mind of his beloved Emperor moments before the command. He placed his light saber back on his hilt and nodded. "I'll await further orders from there, _My Lord_."

"Kill the sarcasm." Lusac retorted. "You won't need it on Tatooine…" He went to argue further with his fleeing commander, but suddenly felt a tremor in the Force from a far-off corner of the galaxy.

 _"That was…could it be? No…I'm not ready for him just yet."_

* * *

 **Well I think Kirito finally made it off the planet! And, that Emperor Lusac seems pretty interested in someone who just entered the galaxy...I wonder if they're related!**

 **Also, the use of Heathcliff! I wondered what people would like about that, but I thought it'd be funny to make him sort of an Obi-wan/Yoda for Kirito. The scene where he talks about the Force for the first time with Kirito was actually one of my favorite moments to write...I just had to have the little Force theme playing in my head when I wrote it. More of stuff like that to come! It's pretty authentic Star Wars from here, and we get to see a familiar face tomorrow...one of Kirito's friends!**

 **Until Then! Thanks for making it to chapter 5 with me!**


	7. 6: A Familiar Face

**Author's Note: Chapter six as delivered as promised! This is the best chapter so far, and the official start of the true story (the last few chapters on Mortis were just Kirito's tutorial level, after all.)**

 **Please enjoy! You'll be seeing a familiar face from Kirito's real world in this one!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Six - A Familiar Face

* * *

Kirito had just flown out of orbit from the planet Mortis. The light blue earth behind him grew smaller and smaller as his sleek silver star fighter flew through the endless black void on a path to nowhere. He discovered the ship sitting at the top of the newest tower, and was hoping to find more instructions, or even a better weapon. All he had with him was a worthless training saber, and several pieces to an unfinished light saber. He needed more if he wanted to begin tracking down Mathis, especially without a waypoint to follow.

"This is terrible. I have no idea where to go, and I have no idea what faction I'm a part of." He scanned his map for any signs of life or action, but sadly continued his worrying thoughts. "And…I have no idea where any of my friends are." His ship was running on auto pilot, because he truthfully had no thought on how to work the controls. _Sword Art Online_ or any of its predecessors, never made him learn how to fly a star ship, and even the futuristic _Gun Gale Online_ seemed totally distant compared to this cybernetic universe of Star Wars.

Kirito was free flowing through the black void of space, and just as all hope seemed to fade, things turned very interesting as a flashing white star appeared just beyond his windshield. "Huh, that almost looks like it's man-made…I wonder if…?"

He tried to decipher the confusing radar that sat beside his right arm, but the bizarre interface had been spinning around uncontrollably ever since he left the surface of Mortis. He had not been flying for very long, but just in the blink of an eye, the large blue and green planet behind him quickly vanished out of all space and time. He wondered if it was even a permanent part of the game, or if it truly was just a tutorial world built for himself. It was hard to believe his time there ended so quickly. He was already Level 10, whatever that meant in this game, and had the makings of a full weapon stashed away in his inventory ready to be created. He had no control of his vehicle either, so this meant that shining spotty dot in the distant view of his windshield would soon be right in front of him at any rate in time.

Kirito kept his eyes peeled for extra movements, but all he could see was the light, growing in both height and diameter as he made his approach. However, just as the ship zoomed past a specific point in space, a large planet lit up behind the growing dot of light. It was all white, with wispy clouds, and slight cracks of green showing underneath. It looked like a frozen ball of ice, so Kirito already dreaded the idea of getting too close to the planet's gravitational pull. However, just as he made that decision, a second force had already begun pulling him in. The flashing dot seemed to have its own inward force of gravity like a planet's atmosphere would. It was no moon or space station, but instead a large floating ship. The exterior was grey and black, and the shape looked like a wedge with an opening down the entire center. He could see a blue port force field on the inside of the bow, and now realized the ship was pulling him in for its own purpose.

"Agh! It's got a tractor beam or something! I can't even take over the controls!" He reminded himself that it probably would have done little good anyway since he did not know how to fly in the first place. The force that was pulling his ship closer and closer was growing, and now he could see the tips of large blaster canons and smooth steel finishes all over the surface of the spacecraft. It looked daunting to say the least, and tiny but menacing fighters were buzzing around the hull like bees on a hive. This ship looked like it was delivering people on and off the surface of the icy planet, so Kirito simply assumed this had to be a very important part of the map. His thoughts were halted, however, as his spacecraft was now in front of the docking bay. Two villainous fighters were escorting him into the main hanger, and soon after passing through the blue forcefield door, Kirito's chrome starfighter landed.

Buzzing noises and low sounding sirens were filling the massive hanger of the dreadnaught. Commanding voices were piercing ears over the intercom of the ship, and swarms of troops dressed in all grey or black were marching in and out of view. Kirito realized his ship was escorted the entire way inside, so he made no hesitation in getting his weapon ready. He popped open the hood of his vehicle, and rolled out of the cockpit to land on two feet, and just then he turned to find three figures approaching him.

One was clearly an officer, as depicted by his hat and badges, while the other two wore helmets, and stood on either side of their leader's shoulders. They halted right on his mark, and made not sudden movements as their commanding officer tilted his head.

"Your username doesn't list your faction. State your faction and class, soldier."

"Umm…" Kirito had no idea how to respond. He was not a soldier, and had no clue what to say about the faction comment. "Err…factionless…and I'm level 10 if that helps?"

The officer flinched for a moment, and then raised a calculating eyebrow as he stepped forward and stood right in front of Kirito's face. His arms were behind his back, and his back was fully arched to signify his important position. "You have no faction…and you've managed to make it all the way out here to Ilum at Level 10?"

Kirito performed a double-take. "Ilum? I was just on Mortis. I don't know where Ilum is."

"Mortis? What games are you playing, soldier? Don't tell me you're some kind of admin testing new DLC planets!"

"No, I hope not!" Kirito felt oddly comfortable, even though the man in front of him seemed to be a leader in the villain's faction. He stood tall, and carried on with his explanation. "Look, I don't know how I got out here, but I think my game bugged out. Think you could help me out?"

The officer narrowed his vision, and looked above Kirito's head to recollect all the information that was given to him. He recited the username "Kirito" in his head repeatedly, and then slightly turned to one of his subordinates. "Escort him to a facility in the brig. He's not under arrest…but I believe Emperor Lusac will want to hear from him."

"Whoah, hold on!" Kirito pulled out his training sword and defended himself from the approaching troopers. "I can fly there myself if you want to tell me how to do it, but I'm not going with you guys anywhere near a brig."

The guards raised their weapons slightly, and the officer turned away to reveal a sliver light saber at his belt. "Son, this is a Harrower-class dreadnought. If you think you can put up a fight with a training blade than you might as well escort yourself to the brig."

Kirito snarled his upper lip. "You wanna try me, pal?"

Tension grew between the two swordsmen. The officer was still not angry, but he did seem very intrigued with Kirito's level of passion. He finally smirked, and swiftly drew his lightsaber for ignition. The blade was ruby red, fit for the finest Sith Lord. He made one quick swipe outward, and disarmed Kirito in the blink of an eye. The former Black Swordsman was left in shock and awe, and was left oblivious on how to react at first. He grew slightly irritated after the proud officer held his blade higher, and bent over to turn off his practice blade, quickly putting it back inside his inventory. Kirito then turned, and proceeded to follow his two escorting troopers to the other side of the docking bay.

The ship was massive, almost too big for any video game simulation. It was a standard Imperial star destroyer, but in this era, it was known more infrequently as a Harrower-class battle cruiser. This dreadnaught was a heavily-armed class of wedge-shaped capital ships that was the backbone of the Imperial Navy of the Sith Empire.

Kirito was impressed with the ship, but nothing more than a few quick glances gave that away. With the proper weapons, he knew he could clear this entire floor, and even the commanders if given enough time. He knew this had to be an important operation, because the planet outside was experiencing a heavy amount of Imperial traffic.

Despite that thought, he knew he did not need to stick around to see it. These guards escorting him were already annoying just in their silence, and he had no intention to meet this Emperor without the proper training and weapons at his disposal. He let the two men walk him through a range of corridors, until they entered a narrow chamber of jail cells.

"All the cells are full, just throw him in with one of the upper prisoners." The block captain signaled to the two escorts to march Kirito down the main walkway, and before Kirito could look through any of the red glowing cells, one of the doors was forced open, just for him.

"Weapons." The local officer was not joking with Kirito any longer. They claimed he was not going to be a prisoner, but that was before he drew a sword on them back in the hanger. Kirito raised an eyebrow, and realized he was paying for a mistake as he relinquished control of his mediocre training blade.

"Get in there!" The guards finally spoke up. "We're leaving for Dromund Kaas soon, but only after we get a big enough mining haul."

Kirito had no idea what any of that meant, but he rubbed his shoulder after being shoved in, and took a seat on a bench in the dark room. The red beam door lit up after he made it inside, and just as the guards left, the current occupant made himself visible.

"Agh! No one told me I was gettin' a roommate! I woulda prepped for it sooner!"

"WHA-!" Kirito nearly lost control of his footing as the figure made himself known, but it turns out that Kirito already knew this person. He wore a tall brown coat, and two empty blaster holsters on a spacy looking belt, but what gathered Kirito's real attention was his spikey red hair, signature bandana headband, and the smug expression of a former friend from the real world.

"Klein!? It's you!"

"Me!? Wait, you know me!?" Klein held still as Kirito wrapped his arms around his shoulders, and without thinking accepted a handshake from the relieved swordsman.

Kirito was lost in his own excitement, and soon realized what his friend just said. "Y-yea man…wait, you know me, right? It's me…Kirito."

"Kirito…?" The confused smuggler shook his head with embarrassment. "Nope, doesn't really ring a bell. Of course, they have been treatin' me like garbage ever since they locked me in here. Maybe they ruined my memory."

"They can do that?" Kirito looked horrified at the sound of that technology, but quickly shook it off. "Anyway, how did you get here? And what's with the goofy outfit?"

"What _this?_ " Klein looked offended. "This is the max level skin for gunslingers!" He took a seat on one of the hard metal benches. "And if you really want to know, these crooks highjacked my ship as I was leaving Ilum down there. I was tryin' ta make out with a bunch of saber crystals, but I never made it past the outer atmosphere."

" _Saber crystals…_ " Kirito's mind was beginning to wonder again before he realized he was still in the mood for asking questions. "Hold on, are you alone or with the others?! What about Asuna?"

"Who?" Klein had no idea how to answer that, and pushed Kirito aside before he pressed his own head against a laser red wall. "Dude I have no idea who you're talking about, but I was here on my own mission."

"Right…your memory." Kirito hoped this was just a short-term scenario, and also hoped it was just a result of being captured. From what he gathered, Klein was a member of the Republic, and they were both aboard a Sith cruiser.

"But, don't worry!" Klein kept his ear against the glowing red sheet keeping them locked inside. "I still have a memory of being walked here from one of the interrogation rooms. I have no idea where any of my weapons are, and my ship maybe turned ta scrap by now, but I have some idea of where to go first."

"Uh yea, sure thing…" Kirito sounded normal, but his eyes showed deep sadness. He finally found a familiar face, an old friend from the real world, and his memory was totally wiped. He still had no leads for where any of the others were, but he had to get out. It was his only choice. "Anyway, your plan?"

"Oh yea…" Klein grinned and turned away from the door. "I was planning on just whining through the walls until someone came in here to shut me up…but now that I have someone else to work with…"

Kirito tilted his head, but suddenly jumped as Klein slammed a fist right into his pasty white cheek. The black swordsman fell to the ground in a jolt of pain, and immediately leaned up to curse his forgetful friend. "Hey! What the heck was that for?!"

"Come on!" Klein smirked with his fists up. "Grab my shoulders and slam me into the door!"

Kirito was frozen with total confusion, but was starting to feel a bit of anger flair up from that his. A sharp pain took his mind, and unleashed a small amount of angry energy coursing through his body. His only choice to release the energy was to grab his friend and do as he had asked. He tossed Klein harshly into the laser sharp door, and cringed as the former red knight shrieked with burning pain as the laser material burned his arms.

"Okay…" Klein spoke with coughs. "A little too real there, buddy."

"Yea, I know…" Kirito awkwardly held up both of his hands, and felt the dark magic from before slowly fade away. It had to be something from Mathis's network. Could it be that "Force" thing Kayaba mentioned? His character did appear to be more like a Jedi than a soldier, and Jedi use the Force in the films.

His focus was broken as he realized the vibrations from Klein's strike against the wall triggered a security warning down their hallway. They could hear loud footsteps coming their way, which forced Klein to lay back down.

"Good stuff. I'll do all the talking, and you figure out a way to take the guard down."

"Me!?" Kirito raised his hands. "Dude, I'm only Level 10 right now! I couldn't even beat the officer in the hanger!"

"So?" Klein started wincing to build up his act. "Use some of that voodoo Jedi stuff! I saw them take your practice saber. What is that called…the _Force?_ "

"…" Kirito lowered his hands, and looked up as the door turned off, and both prisoners were now greeted by two well-armed guards with black blaster rifles.

"What's going on in here!?" One of the guards shouted as he raised his weapon. "How many times have we told you not to touch the door!?"

"Agh…" Klein leaned up on one elbow. "It wasn't me, ya creep! It was the new guy! I told you earlier it'd be better to keep me on my own! I don't do well with others."

The off guard stepped in to help Klein onto his feet, while the leader raised his weapon higher to Kirito's face. "Fine then! Hands up, prisoner! We're relocating you."

"No, you're not." Kirito replied bluntly. His face hid the nervous façade flaring up in his mind, and his eyes did all the talking from there. "You're going to hand over your weapons, and give us the keys to the cell."

A long pause filled the room, almost broken by the utter face of confusion and anger filling Klein's face. His jaw dropped down to the floor trying to find time to speak, but suddenly the guard followed suit, and lowered his weapon.

"We're going to hand over our weapons, and give you the keys to the cell."

Klein jumped from his spot on the floor, and now realized the other guard was following the dull orders as well. The both stood, and gave their rifles up, and the leader placed the square cell keys in the hands of Kirito.

Kirito grabbed Klein by the collar, and dragged him to his feet as they both left the cell, and shut the door behind him by command of the new digital key pad. From their they turned back the way the guards came, and located the next hallway.

"DUDE!?" Klein whispered loudly as no alarms went off from their timely escape. "What the hell was that!? I was expecting some massive cloud of air to smash those two into the wall!"

"R-Really?" Kirito looked at his hands as they ran through the corridor. "I wouldn't even know how to do that…n-not that what I did was so simple either."

"So spill it!" They stopped, and continued talking as Kirito looked around the nearest corner. "What did you do?"

"I don't know! I just remembered a scene from those Star Wars movies where the Jedi plays a mind trick on the stormtroopers. I just focused on his eyes, and asked for his weapons."

"Oh yea, come to think of it, I got a friend that can do that back on Coruscant. His name's Agil, and you could probably learn a thing or two from…"

"Wait, Agil!?" Kirito turned, and placed both of his hands back on Klein's upper arms. "You do know about the others! What about Asuna?"

"Dude, I have no idea who you're talking about!" Klein held his hands up in defense. "The fact that you know who Agil is totally baffles me! We're heading to Coruscant the moment we get out of here, though, if you wanna ask him instead. He is a smart guy, after all."

"Sure…sure thing." Kirito was trying to stay focused on their escape plan, and turned back toward the empty hallway. "Okay, our equipment is in that room halfway down the hall. Those guards we took out look like the ones who were in-charge of watching it, so all we have to do is watch the hall for more guards."

"So what are we waiting for?" Klein bolted around Kirito. "Let's grab it and get out of here!" They ran down the empty black chrome hallway, and turned for the security room, which appeared to have several small boxes sitting on the table.

"Here!" Klein grabbed Kirito's training blade and tossed it to his new friend. "I have way more junk to work with. You watch the door."

"Yea, sure thing!" Kirito grabbed handle of his unfaithful weapon, and walked out to the open hall, praying nobody with a real weapon would by and spoil their escape.

Sadly, the moment Kirito crossed the door's threshold, a red beam of light spun toward the grey swordsman like a glowing boomerang. It sliced a mark in the wall from where Kirito ducked to avoid losing his head, and returned to the hand of the same officer that delivered Kirito to his cell.

"I knew you were trouble." The skilled Sith Warrior raised his blade in a confrontational manner. "The Emperor will be lucky to meet you alive once I'm through with you."

Kirito went to deliver his counter trash talk, but remembered his weapon was much worse than his enemy's. He had a real light saber powered by a Sith crystal. Kirito had a black stick that glowed with yellow buzzes. Instead, the former champion decided to speak with his skill, and dashed forward with a flurry of yellow attacks, all of which were blocked easily by the Sith Commander. The two blades, red and yellow, clashed back and forth, each one powered by swords skills dubbed out by their owners. The Sith commander slashed the air several times to catch Kirito off guard, but the skilled warrior blocked them all with a quick swiping motion, and rolled closer to deliver several parried strikes.

The Sith Warrior was getting tired of dealing with this Level 10 scum, and suddenly brought his weapon down harder than before, slicing through Kirito's flimsy yellow blade in the blink of an eye.

Kirito watched his only weapon break before his eyes, and dropped the useless handle of the sword as the red lightsaber lowered further and further toward his chest. He was thinking of a way to avoid certain death before a bright green beam of laser shot through the door, and destroyed the Sith' light saber right in his hand.

The officer yelled out with rage and pain, but soon felt a second green bolt hit him in the chest. His defenseless stance left him open to a measly blaster pistol, and right when his weakened knees hit the ground, Klein emerged from the door with a spinning silver pistol twirling around his finger.

"Can't beat a simple blaster, can ya Sir?" Klein knew the dead officer had no way of answering his question, and delivered one lasting smirk as the enemy's body fell forward, and left them with the open chance for escape.

"Come on!" Kirito was working out his memory to locate the hanger. "I think we want this way!"

"No way!" Klein smirked and grabbed Kirito by the arm to turn down the other hallway. "My ship's in a private hanger. That's how they store all the good ships."

 _"This thing better be as good as he says it is…"_ Kirito loved Klein like a brother, but he had a feeling this would turn into a similar situation that Luke Skywalker encountered when he first laid eyes on the famous Millennium Falcon. _"Well, I guess it was a famous ship after all…"_

And to his suspicion, he was right. The XS Stock light freighter was the starship available to players of the Smuggler class, but it was hardly an impressive sight to visually behold. It looked like someone strapped some engines and a cockpit around a circular transport crate. The paint was old, the hull was worn, but all that meant both good and bad things for the fleeing convicts.

"Here she is." Klein marveled at his once-missing beauty. "The _Salamander_."

That caught Kirito's attention. The Salamander had to be a reference to his time playing ALO, which meant Klein had to hold his memories at one point inside this game. The current Klein would have no idea what that word meant, or why it was important.

"Where'd the name come from?" Kirito asked as he and Klein climbed around to remove any remaining restrictor bolts.

Klein tossed the last one onto the steel floor and shrugged. "Someone I met named it for me. It's sorta became my nickname in TORO after that."

 _*BLAST!*_

Both boys ducked their heads, and noticed the Sith guards had finally tracked them down. Kirito assumed the guards expected to find them at his slick mysterious ship from Mortis, but none of that mattered now that they were taking on a rain of red fire from the approaching Sith stormtroopers.

Klein shoved Kirito on board, and continued firing from the escape hatch as the door took its sweet time closing. "On those guns, Kirito! NOW!"

Kirito took a minute trying to figure out what he meant, and then a central latter caught his attention as he looked in to find two paths leading to top and bottle blaster turrets. Klein made it to the cockpit of the aircraft, and prematurely punched the throttle as he powered on the machine. The ship lurched forward, and slammed into a row of settled Sith star fighters, and the back hull was taking heavy fire from the infantry guards before he collected enough sense to power on the blaster shields.

Klein shot his ship out of the private hanger, and veered right as a flock of Sith fighters flew out like vultures from the main bow hanger. He twirled around the massive hull of the star cruiser, and relied solely on Kirito's aim from the lower turret to keep the bad guys off his trail.

"Keep 'em off me while I power on the hyper drive!" Klein shouted through his microphone with a maniacal smirk on his face while the lights on his dashboard slowly came to life.

"Yea, sure!" Kirito replied with slight snark. "Don't spin it so fast! You break us in two if you're not careful!"

"Don't worry…" Klein lowered his voice, and regained a firm control over the handles. "She'll hold together."

Kirito had a hard time believing that as a swarm of Sith fighters trailed behind their ship with precise flying and deadly aim. If it wasn't for the rear deflector shields on their ship, they would have blown into a star by now. Klein shot down a cruiser turret with his forward guns, and slipped into a series of pipes and tunnels on the other side of the explosion. Three fighters followed after him, while the remaining three flew around to cut them off.

"Come on, come on! You can do this!" Kirito missed shot after shot as his large four-barreled turret failed to take out a single ship so far. He a more stable gun, like Klein's, and perhaps his aim would be better if the constant ringing from his targeting computer would decide to stay quiet.

"Agh, just shut up already!" Kirito slammed his fist down on a large button in front of his targeting computer, and suddenly, as the piercing ringing stopped making any noise. His vision, cleared, and his eyes widened.

Everything in Kirito's view had slowed down. He could take several breathes before the natural seconds would pass by, and all the red lasers from the approaching fighters were frozen in mid-air, whizzing slowly from the delayed state of affairs. Kirito took a deeper breath, and targeted the front fighter with his guns, blasting it into infinity, and blinding the other two ships to slow them down further.

"YES!"

"Nice shot, Buddy!" Klein yelled back. "Two more where that came from!"

"He's right…" Kirito took back control. "Don't get cocky, Kirito. Don't get cocky…" He took several deep breaths, and shot down the left approaching fighter, which in turn spiraled right, and blew up on the last remaining enemy. Two for the price of one.

Klein took this as a refreshing sign to increase his speed now that Kirito didn't have to focus on his aim, and finally shot out a hole in the compound ship to return to the stars. However, as the blast cleared, something truly astounding came to view.

"No way! The Republic is here!?"

The sky above Ilum was now littered with several different cruisers. A mix of Sith Dreadnaughts and Republic Freighters blasted one another with heavy fire power, while small fighters dotted the in between war with a series of progressive dog fights. Klein lost himself in the thick of it all, and assumed those fighters from earlier were well away from their tail.

"I'm not sure I can handle any more of this…" Kirito was usually pretty strong, but the gyro feature on his quad-gun was starting to wear down his ability to fly. Klein laughed through his mic, and dodged several approaching ships to gaze ahead at a field of black.

"Don't worry, Coruscant here we come." He slammed on the hyperdrive throttle, and felt his ship freeze for a moment as the stars through his dash board turned from dots to lines. They streaked across his view and shot him toward the void in the blink of an eye, all of which left Ilum, and the dog fighting above, back in its dust.

* * *

 **Ah, Klein really is the Han Solo type here!**

 **I had a blast with this one! I love the lightsaber fights between Jedi and Sith in the movies, but the space scenes are** _really_ **authentic Star Wars at its finest. I used many different scenes for inspiration; the original trailer for SWTOR, the Millenium Falcon vs Tie Fighters in the Original, the meteors in Ep V, the escape from Jakku in Ep VII, the escape from Naboo in Ep I...so many good scenes in this series of films! (Yes, I am one of _those_ Star Wars fans who has learned to love _all the Star Wars movies_...please don't judge me for it! I've only known SAO since 2016, but I grew up with Star Wars. I like the series, and that means _all_ of it!)**

 **ANYWAY! Klein and Kirito are zipping right to Coruscant. The chapters will be random from here, but again I have the entire first act (from here to about chapter 18) all written on Microsoft word, so you shouldn't have to wait too long for new updates.**

 **Until Then!**


	8. 7: The Galactic City

**Author's Note: Yikes! It's been a while. Here is chapter Seven!**

 **Also, to reviewer ptl, I believe I fixed the misspelled names! Hopefully I got 'em all, and let me know if you see anything else too!**

 **Also, I do not own _Sword Art Online_ or _Star Wars_.**

* * *

Chapter Seven - The Galactic City

* * *

"No way! So all the NPCs are actual people from the game company?"

"Yea!" Klein was answering questions from Kirito regarding the mechanics of the new Old Republic game. According to the former Salamander of ALO, all the story NPCs are actually real humans controlling avatars in the real world, just like any other player. "Except the companion NPCs, they're still bots for the most part."

"Right, though at this rate I'm not sure why you'd want one." Kirito glanced up a Klein's perfect Level 60 rating by his gamertag, which left the once proud leader of SAO kind of down in the dumps about his own self. "Anyway, what's the story like? Is it any fun?"

"Yea, it's pretty cool." Klein admitted as he slowly regained control from the autopilot. "The post-game is where it's at though! It's all-out war with the players on the Sith side! No-holds-barred!"

"Really?" Kirito got flashbacks from his first days of ALO, but mainly memories of the Salamanders and the Sylphs to be exact. "Then it's a total faction-based war now. Is there any gimmick?"

"Gimmick? What like if you die or lose?" Klein sank in his seat. "Apparently, if you die then that's it. Poof! You're kicked out of the game like a broken ship hurling endlessly through space. No one knows what happens to ya after that though."

"Why not?" Kirito wanted to hear more. "That sounds like the first question I would have asked once I got placed in the tutorial!"

"It never seemed that important, only winning for your faction did." Klein shrugged, and changed his demeanor. "But if the whole war ends, and one side loses…well no one even has a hint for that bogus ending yet. We're all just counting on Coruscant holding out until more Republic players finish the story mode."

"Well, I hope I can help." Kirito and Klein both looked at the blast screen as they shot out of hyperspace, and into the gravitational pull of a dark black planet filled with rings of gold, and surrounded by billions of star ships.

"There it is, Coruscant is our primary hub!" Klein gave Kirito a confident pat on the shoulder for relief. "It beats that original destination of your to Dromund Kaas. Trust me, you don't want any of that mess in Sith Empire land."

"Sounds good to me." Kirito actually liked the sound of getting his lightsaber wet with action, but he first needed a new lightsaber to use before the true war began for him. "Uh, say, any chance this planet has a shop or trading center?"

"Why, you want a new training staff?" Klein grinned with humor. "We're stopping off at the Senate port, so I think you'll have access to the Global Trading System."

Klein flew through the wonderous clouds of the Republic Capital, and as they faded from view, an entire horizon of skyscrapers took the eyes of Kirito. His mouth was totally agape, and he slowly stood up to collect the wonderous vision ahead. "This is amazing…it's so much smoother than the old game, and even more realistic than Aincrad."

"It's a pretty game." Klein nodded in agreement. He went to add more, but saw a beeping green light flash on his dash board underneath his now mounted microphone.

"Hey buddy, glad I could get your signal! I see you made it out of Ilum alive?"

"Ha!" Klein laughed through a grin. "Agil, they were idiots to keep me as long as they did. We made our escape and a Republic fleet blasted through light speed and intercepted the rest of the Imperials." He then remembered his additional cargo. "Hey say 'Hi' to the newbie on board, Agil. Names Kirito! He says he knows you."

Kirito hesitated for a moment, then leaned into the mic. "Uh, H-hey buddy. It's good to hear you again!"

"Oh, well I'm sorry, Kirito. I can't say I recognize you or your name." He sounded like his conversation was slowly breaking up. "But I could sense you on board with Klein. We'll talk later, but right now Imma need some help here in the casino district. Got some Bounty Hunters who snuck through customs trying to win money for a senate speeder."

"Scum bags." Klein cursed their name. "Yea we'll be right on it." He switched on a device above his head, which turned on a radar map. He then signaled for Kirito to get back in his gunner station. "Look I know shootin' ain't the style for you force-sensitive players, but seeing as you're out of a weapon, I'll let you man the guns while I fly over head of the bay."

"I guess I'm okay with that." Kirito was still feeling self-conscious about his lack of in-game skill, but followed the orders anyway as he left for the ladder. "Any idea what the people I'm shooting at will look like?"

"Um, yea." Klein hollered. "They'll have obnoxious jetpacks and stupid visor helmets. Just don't shoot anyone dressed in white! Those are our boys. And Agil will have a blue lightsaber, so we'll fly over his head and support him from there, if they're outdoors that is."

Kirito braced for the battle, and finally noticed a flare of fire coming from the lower level of some of the sky scrapers. There was red and blue flashing back and forth between the lines, and Kirito quickly remembered the Empire's red laser beams and started firing on the opposing side. Klein swung around, and powered on all the deflector shields to one forward side as he lowered for aerial defense of the Republic commandos.

Then, Kirito saw him. Andrew Mills, or "Agil" as his gamertag read, was in the center of Republic lines deflecting red lasers with his bright blue lightsaber. Kirito would never speak ill of Agil's skills from SAO, but the way he looked right now, Agil's motions and movements were flawless. Every swing of his blade looked well-timed, and perfect beyond measure. Each beam of light he deflected went into an enemy's body, and none were wasted on the ground. He was acting as the perfect wall for his Republic soldiers, and it almost tricked Kirito into wondering why they needed back up in the first place.

Until the aerial assault came from the bounty hunters. They did not have a ship of their own yet, but their jetpacks allowed a large host of enemies to take to the skies, and confront Republic forces away from the ground.

Then, Klein realized he shifted all his deflector shields to one side of the aircraft. Without warning, an air-born bounty hunter shot out a wrist rocket, and blew off the bottom gun where Kirito was found hiding and firing. The black swordsman fell from his seat, and out into the open field, luckily landing behind a fallen barrel tipped over for a barrier. Two Republic commandos ran over to guard his open flanks, and Agil finally caved through a wall of laser beams to make it over as well.

"Good to see you drop in, friend. Name's Agil." Despite his white Republic plate armor and brown Jedi robe, it was the spitting image of the famed merchant from SAO, and good friend of Kirito, Agil.

"Yea, I kinda figured that one out…" Kirito was so frustrated with all of this. He literally waited in line with Klein and Agil to buy the very game they were playing, and now they have no idea who he is. He wanted desperately to vent about his anger, but a sudden rocket slammed into their defenses, and reminded them they were still in the middle of a fight.

Agil lowered down. "So tell me, you're only Level 10, but I'm getting a massive read on your power! What's your secret?"

"Well, I'm not really sure what faction I'm a part of. "Kirito gestured to his grey gamertag. "That may have something to do with why I'm only Level 10, but I feel just as powerful as I did in older Seed games."

"Huh, that is weird." Agil tried to deduce a conclusion. "Where's your weapon? I'm sure you had to come out of the tutorial with a specific colored crystal."

"Ahehe…I had a training blade, but it got destroyed back above Ilum. That's why Klein had me as his gunner."

"Well that does sound frustrating." He looked up at the other side of the field, and tried counting how many ground troops the enemy had left. "What about force skills. Got any of them to share with us?"

"Uh…" Kirito looked at his empty hands, but felt no more powerful than he did at Ilum. "I know how to mind-trick people…that's about it."

"Nonsense!" Agil slammed his hand into Kirito's back for support. "Try shovin' on that barrier over there! Maybe you're missing your saber because you're secretly a Jedi Counselor!"

"You think I'm more force-heavy, but…" Kirito knew he was good at video games, but others took him as the stuff of legend back in SAO and ALO. If he had any skills that transferred from his old avatar into this game, they certainly had to be sword skills. Plus, the Force was a whole new mechanic in his mind. He had no idea what it was, or how it even worked. That apparently never stop him from standing up and aiming his thoughts on the enemy's barrier, though. He closed his eyes, and concentrated all his energy on the one spot of the battlefield.

A second rocket did not care that Kirito was trying to concentrate. Enough time had passed to prove Kirito had no skills, and was forced to dodge out of the way from the second explosion as Agil blocked the rest of the fire with powers of his own.

"Yikes, you do need a weapon." Agil tried to give him a supportive chuckle. "Well, we can head to the shop after the battle to get you squared away, but right now we need to find a place for Klein to land that clunker of a ship."

Agil raised an eyebrow as he scanned the enemy's side of the field, and as a third rocket from the bounty hunters propelled its way for the Republic forces, Agil froze it in mid-air, and sent it flying back in the opposite direction. The spectacle left Kirito with his mouth down, and his eyes lit up as the fire quelled the approaching threat from the Imperial invaders. Agil turned and nodded at his troops to land, and several commandos already ran out and prepped for Klein's landing.

However, just then Kirito felt a sharp pain in his mind. He knew it had to be some part of the Force signaling out to him, but why was it so sharp in his chest? Soon after, a small red laser the size of a needle shot out from the clouds about, and landed right for Agil. His light saber was quickly brought up to deflect it and spare his life, this action signaled that there appeared to be more Imperials out there.

"A sniper…a pretty good one too." Agil initially sheathed his blade, and clipped it to his belt. He noticed Klein emerging from the lowering door of the ship, and gestured for his commandos to carry on marching forward.

"Hey buddy! Can't even pause the action long enough to say hi?" Klein sharply commented.

Agil grinned. "Nah, it's just more exciting than you are, that's all." He gave Klein a hand-shake, and turned to face his troops. "There's still more Imperials out there. I think they've taken the top-floor of the Starlight Casino. I'll round up my boys here, and watch the doors. You two should head back to the Senate and get squared away before joining me, maybe even getting that one there a blade in the process."

"Sounds good to me." Klein admitted now looking at his missing bottom gun on his ship. "We may even be able to get him an upgrade or something. Hell, someone might be there at the Senate to help answer some of your questions, ay Kirito!"

"That would be nice." Kirito nodded, and then turned to the tall Jedi Knight. "So you too, Agil? You have no idea who you are?"

Agil crossed his arms and raised one eyebrow. "I'm sorry, bro, but I can't say I've ever seen you before. You say we know each other in real life? I can't even think back that far if I'm being honest. It feels like it's been an eternity inside this game."

"Try playing SAO…" Kirito had nothing left to say, and turned for the ship. "Sorry for the bother. Thanks for the help, though."

As Kirito walked slowly for the entrance to Klein's ship, the remaining Smuggler shook his head. "Man, that's a damn shame. I'd be pretty pissed too if all my friends had their memories wiped."

"It sounds like you're in the same boat as him." Agil admitted. "But you just happen to have your memory whipped as well. I wonder if General Amun Din can help him out. She's on her way back from Alderan now."

"Yikes!" Klein straightened up. "Then we better get back to the Senate before she sees us! She hates when Smuggler's head into the Senate grounds uninvited!"

"You can stop by the shop on the Senate grounds as well." Agil suggested. "It gets pricey, but it's okay if you have a friend to help pay for your parts."

"Sounds good." Kirito heard them from the ship, and perked up with that slight bit of optimistic news. "Will someone there show me how to craft a lightsaber?"

"…" Agil and Klein both stood in silence, until the veteran Jedi Knight threw his hands-on top of his head. "Are you kidding me!? You came to Coruscant without a crafted lightsaber!?"

"Yea man!" Kirito jumped. "I-I told you that when we met!"

"You literally meant a training blade!" He wanted to reaffirm. "Like one of those glowing black sticks you get as a Padawan? You lost that over Ilum!?"

"That's what I said!" Kirito had a bad feeling for where all of this was going."

"Agh great." Agil used his inner Jedi focus to calm his nerves. "Well, in that case y'all better head back to the skies for a trip to Tython. The Jedi temple here on Coruscant is destroyed, remember Klein?"

"Agh damn it…" Klein softly admitted. "I knew I was forgetting something. Well I guess we better…"

 _*SMACK!*_

"OUCH!" Klein raised his hands to a now enlarged knot on the back of his. Kirito used a discarded Republic rifle to bash him upside the skull, and clearly showed his true emotions after hearing all the wonderful news.

"Damn, that hurt, kid!" Klein and Agil now watched Kirito make his final retreat into the inner sanctum of Klein's freighter, and just before Klein left as well, he wanted to check one last thing. "That temple on Tython is easy to reach, right? No Sith blockade or force- heavy mountains?"

"Yea." Agil nodded. "You're looking for the main waypoint once you enter its atmosphere. The Jedi Master should be able to help you. She's pretty great with newbies."

"Gotta name for me?" Klein asked with a hint of romance in his voice. "That ship of mine is getting awful lonely.

"She's a Jedi, man." Agil replied, almost using a robotic tone. "She can't be in a relationship, but I can give you her name. Her name is Leafa."

Klein nodded, and left Agil for the long mission to wait out the Imperial criminals atop the Starlight Casino, however, floating above the cloud line at the height of the skyscraper was a lone Imperial Agent kneeling in wait to study the movements of her enemies below. She leaned over the edge of the building, and pierced through the scope on her X-52 Wraith Infiltrator sniper rifle. She was clearly a veteran marksman, and a seasoned player fighting for the Imperial cause. Her men were all nestled inside the building below her, but she stayed on top of the roof to scout out just as much information as she could.

"Geeze, you're still up here? I figured you'd head down the moment you missed your shot!"

"Maybe I'm waiting on another opportunity." The sniper ignored an approaching female bounty hunter, and kept her eye on the departing Klein and still bodied Agil. Her finger was over the trigger, but only loosely.

The bounty hunter rolled her eyes, and put away a pair of ultrabright binoculars strapped to her cotton candy pink hair. "Okay? His lightsaber is down. Take the shot."

The sniper took several deep breaths, but even as Agil turned to face the pathway leading to the casino, the blue-haired vixen lowered her weapon. "He'd only block it again, and then he'd get a better read on who all is up here."

"Tch. Chicken." The Bounty Hunter crossed her legs, and picked at her binoculars. "I spent all that time fixing your scope to see through clouds, and you waste away your only shot on a miss. What ever happened to the "Marksman's Creed"? Or whatever you're always blabbering on about?"

"…" The sniper rolled around and opened up her inventory to check on her ammunitions. She left a long pause open in the air, all before the huntress stood from her seat and headed back for the door downstairs.

"Okay, well I'll be inside with the others. The base of the casino is rigged to blow, and the getaway ship in on course for the roof."

"Glad to hear it." The sniper sounded like she wanted some privacy, and left it at that while the Bounty Hunter left for the door.

However, the pink-haired Imperial had one last remark meant for the failed blue-haired assassin. "Oh, and Sinon…in case you want to report this mission back to the Emperor, I'd make that shot next time."

The door shut, leaving Sinon to narrow her vision on her inventory list once again. She felt rage boiling through her veins, but decided to let it sit in case the Republic came in for an early assault on the casino.

 _"Lisbeth…"_ Sinon said quietly to herself, thinking back to the snotty pink-haired bounty hunter. _"You worry about you, and I'll worry about me."_

* * *

 **So this chapter was kind of a little one, but it had a lot of impactful stuff going on! Agil is a Jedi master, very fitting! Lisbeth and Sinon...yikes! I wonder if we'll find the others soon! Looks like Leafa is going to be in the next one...**

 **Also, this may be a good time to say, but if I was not clear earlier, this story takes place right after the Mother's Rosario arc and right before Alicization. No character from that arc will be in this series.**

 **I'll try to be timely. Until then!**


	9. 8: Masters of the Force

**Author's Note: Chapter Eight! I feel like this one might be short..but it is hella f*ckin' heavy. Enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Eight - Masters of the Force

* * *

Kirito was sick of flying through space. He dealt with space after Mortis, over Ilum, before Coruscant, and now on the way to some planet called Tython? He was told there was a Jedi Master there at the temple who could help him forge a real lightsaber, but now that he found himself traveling to his fourth planet in a row, it was almost feeling like the true RPG experience.

"So, I take it new Jedi players spawn on Tython?" Kirito asked from the co-pilot seat inside the Salamander. "That's how it was in the old game."

"Sure is." Klein was reading an intergalactic magazine with his feet up as the ship flew on autopilot. "It's Ord Mantell for the gunmen. The game's story starts out with Coruscant after a big Sith Invasion, so all the major thoroughfares in the capital are inaccessible. Like your Jedi Temple, for example. The one on Tython takes its place."

"Oh, I get it." Kirito remembered the old version of the game. "Tython is the only Jedi Temple left. And I'm going to meet some master chick that's gonna help me with a weapon?"

"Yea, when you put it like that…" Klein let out a chuckle. "Look, I can tell you're a veteran when it comes to video games, and the stories you've been telling me have really been awesome, but…no one else knows you're not really Level 10. So try not to go into this place all high and mighty, okay?"

"Me?" Kirito bluntly looked away from the dashboard. "Why? Do I sound like I'm being cocky?"

"Well, callin' the Hero of Tython some "master chick" might get your ass kicked if you're not careful…hey, at least wait until after she gets you a lightsaber to piss her off!"

"No kidding!" Kirito understood, and reclined his chair with Klein's but just as he got comfortable, the hyperdrive course stopped them right at the atmosphere of the green giant, Tython.

Kirito stood tall, and marveled at the rolling rock mountains, and lush green hills as Klein took them both in for the landing. The sprawling Jedi Temple looked like it belonged on Coruscant. It had several massive chambers visible from outside, and a large swath of green space developed for practice battles out front, every inch of which was filled with the boots of battle-ready Jedi.

"No, your attacks can't be too high energy!" A blonde Jedi master was interlocked in a dual out front with a green haired Jedi pupil. They were both significantly high levels, but the master truly outranked everyone in the vicinity, including Klein.

"You're a Sentinel, Recon! You have to conserve your energy, and only rely on your lightsaber for defense!"

"But I made an opening!" Recon shouted back to his higher up. "What, am I not supposed to attack when I get the chance?"

"That's the thing, you didn't really have a chance!" The Jedi Master spun a green double-blade saber-staff around in a quick flurry to deflect all the useless jabs coming from Recon's attacks. She swept up a cloud of air, and used her hand like a baton conducting a choir, spinning dust around her opponent's face before delivering one final disarmament strike.

"And that's that." She noted as the single lightsaber fell to the ground, totally in-tact. Recon was not about to lose a weapon or hand to his master's teachings, so he decided to drop the blade mid-battle and take an easy surrender.

However, Recon used the landing shuttle as his excuse. "Hey, why is a Smuggler visiting Tython?"

"I'm not sure…Hmmm." Leafa sheathed her double-edged blade, and threw on her brown master's robe before heading inside. Recon did the same, and wondered through the main hall of the temple to come out and greet the newcomers in the hanger.

"Ah Tython!" Klein strolled off the freighter's main landing pad, and stepped onto the marble floor of the temple hanger. "That was a quicker ride than I thought, wouldn't you say, Kirito?"

"I guess." Kirito was still half a sleep and half in awe from the sightseeing flight as they looked around, and noticed no envoy of guards greeting them at the door. Then, two large doors slid open, revealing the same cloaked Jedi Master's from before. Klein was trying to figure out how these two Jedi managed to take command of the main Jedi Temple in the Republic, while Kirito was trying to keep his cool after seeing two more familiar faces from his friends.

"N-No…Way…" Kirito trembled as he walked toward the Jedi Master. "Sugu…Suguha?"

His in-game friend, and real-life cousin was in command of the Jedi Temple of Tython. Leafa, the former Sylph of ALfheim Online, was now the Hero of Tython, and defender of the Old Republic. Kirito was happy to see her, and Recon, to make his total of located friends higher. However, he was also very nervous for what was about to come.

"Sugu…H-How are you?"

"W-WHA-!?" Leafa jumped back, and kept her hand steadily on her light saber staff strapped to her back. "H-How…how do you know my real name?!"

"No kidding!" Recon freaked out, and drew his lightsaber for combat without igniting it. Klein thought about drawing one of his pistols, but instead held a sorry hand up to cover his face.

"Agh great…" The smuggler sighed into his palm. "We've already ruined this trip before leaving the temple."

Kirito, however, kept a calm smile for both of them. "Well hold on, I know you too, Shinichi. You two are school mates!"

Leafa finally drew her green saberstaff, and after turning it on she spun the tip around to meet Kirito off his chin. As a Jedi Master, she always tried to remain calm, but as a video gamer trying to protect her IRL identity, she was quickly losing her breath. "Tell me. How do you know our names?"

Kirito thought he would be better at this by now. He thought he handled his reunions with Klein and Agil pretty well, but now that his own cousin, his once-named sister Sugu had no idea who he was. It was taking a lot out of him, the poor swordsman from SAO.

"I-I'm sorry, Sugu…but your memory's been wiped. I'm your cousin, Kazuto."

"My memory?!" Leafa had no idea how to respond. "What do you mean my…!?"

"He's not lyin', ya know?" Klein intervened. "Apparently mine's gone too. And Agil's. We all know each other in the real world!"

"You're that smuggler from Coruscant, Klein." Leafa wanted to let her guard down. "This kid knows you and Master Agil as well?"

"Hard to believe." Klein leaned over, and put his elbow on Kirito's shoulder. "Apparently all of us logged in together, but now we've each been scattered around the world, and all of us lost our memories…except Kirito, for some reason. Which come to think of it is still something I don't understand!"

"Hey!" Kirito now felt three angry set of eyes beaming in his direction. "D-Don't look at me! Mathis was the one who did all of this!"

"Mathis?" Leafa held her finger under her chin, and tried to collect a recent conversation. "Like the GM, Peter Mathis?"

"That's him." Kirito finally felt like he was getting somewhere. "There should be seven of you total. Klein, Agil, Sugu, Sili…"

"Hold on just a minute!" Recon was still unimpressed. "So, your sayin' we all got sent into this game at random!?"

Kirito was growing tired of saying the same thing over and over again. "Look, c-can we go inside and talk about it? I really just came here to get a lightsaber, but now I need to sit down again."

* * *

"So, we're all friends from Japan? Well I do live in that district…" Leafa was still quite suspicious, but this was all too much to ignore. The four players found a conference hall in the center tower of the temple, and each tried to outline everything Kirito had explained thus far.

"That's what I said. Anyway, that's when I found Ilum, and eventually met up with Klein. I lost my training saber to the Empire, so that's why we came all the way out to Tython."

"Well, that's too bad!" Leafa felt sorry for the lost force-user. She smiled brightly knowing he came to the right place. "I'm glad you knew to visit Tython then! Technically our trials are only for Jedi, but I'm sure I can make an arrangement for an old friend...even if I have no idea who you are."

Kirito was very content with the Jedi Temple on Coruscant being obsolete. He was happy to see Sugu's bright face once again, his dear sweet sister. Even re-imaged with her Leafa avatar from ALO, he felt warmth and comfort knowing she was still alive and well in this game.

"Glad to hear it." He knew she was joking, but still felt good that she accepted what he said as the truth.

Leafa delivered a cute smile for her older cousin, and then turned it into a slightly sorry frown as she lowered her eyes. "At least…I want to make the arrangement. I'm not sure it's safe anymore."

"What?" Kirito and Klein both sat up, and opened their ears for was followed.

Recon nodded. "The Old Forge for beginning Jedi has been over run. The NPC Fleshraiders are usually an easy group to beat on Tython, but they've been organized by a Sith player who hacked one of the story NPCs."

"A Sith player hacked the story line?" Kirito repeated. "Could it be an employee of Immortal? They are the developers, after all."

"Probably." Leafa cringed with slight anger. "His name is Juyn the Butcher. He's a powerful Sith Juggernaut. We think he was placed here on the Sith Emperor's orders."

"And now he has an army of force-sensitive monsters scaring rookie Jedi away from the forges." Kirito sighed, and slowly stood from the table. "Well, I guess you're lucky to have an experienced rookie in your hands."

"I guess so…" Leafa leaned over the table on one of her arms, but shook her head furiously once she caught what Kirito said. "Hold on, you just got here! I-I can't let a Level 10 player head to the forge without their trials!"

"Oh come on!" Klein raised his feet up on the table, and soon realized all of this would require little effort on his part. "How hard could the trials be for someone who's already Level 10?"

"You have no idea, Smuggler!" Recon stood up. "A Jedi Padawan needs to master the three introductory trials before moving on to get his lightsaber. Only then can he truly be worthy enough to defend…"

"Oh wait, you mean there are only three?" Kirito shrugged. "Well that's nothing! I already complete three self-made trials on Mortis when I was logged into the game."

"What are you talking about." Leafa had no idea what Mortis was, or what trials he was speaking of. "The three introductory trials of the Jedi Order are harsh processes. F-First there's the Trial Skill, which takes multiple displays of strength and agility to…"

"Beat it. I had to climb a tower and kill some gargoyle thing for Mathis."

"Agh…!" Leafa was dumbstruck, and felt her temper slowly rise. "Well, then you have to face the Trial of Courage, which involves passing through one of your greatest fears with…!"

"Beat that one too. Mortis was covered with giant clouds of acid rain. I had to pass through a couple just to get off the planet." He then gave her a wink. "Not to mention the fact that I had to do it to see all my friends again."

Leafa could not find words for what Kirito was saying, so Recon stepped up to finish her thought. "Fine, buster! But the last one is the worst! The Trial of Flesh! It's the most trying test given at the Temple. It involves overcoming great physical pain, hardship, or loss, and the test sometimes resulted in death or dismember...!"

"Uh, dude?" Kirito was starting to get really annoyed. "What part of acid rain clouds did you not hear? I got singed so hard after trying to run through those stupid things." He dragged up on parts of his grey robs, some of which were covered with holes that exposed red scars covering his virtual skin.

Leafa could feel her face flushing with red, both from anger and infatuation. She had never seen a player like this before, and even one who waltz into Tython claiming to be her cousin from the real world. How long had she been trapped in this game, anyway? It seemed like years since she last saw her home in Japan. Her absent mother, leaving their house empty. Her sprawling dojo. Her house mate, and close…

Her thoughts were starting to burn just thinking about it. Kirito was already half-way out the door before the blonde-haired Jedi master ran over and grabbed him by the arm. "WAIT! Y-You do realize you need to go in alone, right? I-I can't help you forge your lightsaber."

"Right." Kirito nodded. "I expected that much. Still, I can at least thank you for guiding me this far." He tried smiling, but saw a sad confusion locked away inside Leafa's eyes. Was the real Suguha somewhere behind her avatar? Could he claim his lightsaber, and unlock some magic force power to reclaim her memory? That's the training he really needed. Maybe when he got back, Master Leafa would feel free to give him some pointers on how to hurl giant balls of air flying toward the enemy.

Kirito was halfway out of the temple, leaving the baffled Recon and the Sleeping Klein alone at the table, only having Leafa follow after him on the way out. "Hold on!" She shouted one last time, "At least let me give you a T7 unit to follow you out!"

Kirito turned around for a final time, and gave her a silent nod. Leafa was finally happy to forge an agreement with her stubborn new friend. She knew he said something about being his sister, or something? Was it her cousin? All she could remember was that it wasn't actually real. She reminded herself that every time he looked at her and delivered that soft grin. It sent a tingle down her spine. She was a Jedi Master, but this boy, Kirito, he seemed to know more about her than she did.

She turned down a veering hallway to locate the charging station for droids, but only did it so quickly to hide her bright red expression. Leafa pressed the door switch, and gestured inside. "Okay, here it is!"

"Uh, thanks." Kirito had an eyebrow raised, and walked in on his own accord to find a whole row of empty units that looked like mounting stations for droids. He always wanted a little guy like R2-D2 to follow him around, and now that he was becoming a real Jedi…or more accurately a fake Jedi, he was actually earning that chance.

He located the only remaining T7 unit. It was bulky, and bright white, with tiny streaks of soft pink coating its body. It was still charging up, but now was as good of time as any other to wake it from sleep and start it on a new adventure.

"Okay little guy! Um, let's see…T7-UE? You're coming with me to get a new lightsaber!" Kirito was okay with talking to an unresponsive droid now that Leafa had walked of back to the other room, but he still felt silly since the machine hadn't even powered on yet. He gave it a few taps on the head, and watched as its main lights came to life, and its head slowly spun around.

The lost droid gained a feel for its surroundings, and slowly raised its legs to view Kirito with its main eye. It zoomed in on its new master, and waited for the Jedi-in-training to speak.

"Welcome to the team, T7-UE! My name is Kirito!"

The droid only needed to hear his character's name before it started jumping up and down in an uncontrolled frenzy. Kirito was worried he had broken the machine, because after bouncing on its wheels, the droid started doing rapid laps around the entire charging room, some of which forced Kirito to dodge out the way in total surprise.

"Whoa, I can see you're more excited about this than I am!" Kirito tried to understand what was going on, but just as he gathered his legs again, the droid rolled in front of him, and flashed on a tiny hologram, aiming right at the spot on the floor in front of its new, awaiting master.

"Daddy! Daddy, it's me! Yui!"

"YUI!?" Kirito fell back on his behind after receiving one of the greatest shocks to his heart since starting The Old Republic Online. The droid had actually contained his lost virtual daughter, and SAO sprite from his past video gaming experience, Yui.

"Yui…it really is you." Kirito slowly swiped through the hologram, trying to pick up his beloved little girl, but to no luck, she was still only a projection. Despite that let down, she still knew his name. "Your memory isn't wiped. Do you remember me?"

"I do!" Yui's hologram jumped up, and wrapped her arms around her father's chest, even though they didn't last long. "I was ported directly from ALO onto TORO after you all logged on!"

"That's great!" Kirito firmly admitted. "You're the only person I've found with a working memory. Klein, Agil, Recon…Sugu…all of them have no idea what their life was before starting this game."

"R-Really…?" Yui's bright smile quickly turned to sadness as her dad's sorry expression from before returned for his daughter. "What about the others? The other girls…what about Mommy?"

Kirito shook his head. "Lisbeth, Silica, Sinon…even Asuna. I still haven't found any of them yet." He stood up, and firmly raised his fist. "But I'm not giving up. I don't care if they're hidden away like ALfheim Online! I'm finding them all, and bringing us all back to the real world!"

"Daddy." Yui took a moment to collect what he was saying, and softly nodded while hugging his legs from the ground. She then let go, and looked up. "I have downloaded maps of all the planets contained within TORO, but you have to be on a planet for me to use the map. Whenever we find a new one, I can scan them all for specific names in order to locate Mommy and the others."

"Sounds great!" Kirito smiled. "What else can you do?"

Yui smiled. "I can log all your in-game materials and items, and I can support you with electrical attacks. They may not benefit you once you reach a certain point in the game, but I'll still do my best!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Kirito patted the little pink and white droid on the head, and signaled for Yui to shut off her hologram, and follow him out the door to leave for the temple common room.

 _"Don't worry guys…don't worry, Asuna. I'm getting you back, no matter where you are."_

* * *

Meanwhile, while Kirito was departing for his expedition into the ancient Jedi forge on Tython, the even older Sith world of Korriban was getting a new overseer as well. A fleet of impressive Imperial Dreadnaughts hovered over the dried up, ancient home-world of the mighty Sith religion, signifying that this planet would never be taken by Republic forces any time soon.

The planet surface was dusty, brown, and haunted with the darkness of forgotten Sith ghosts. The Dark Side of the Force was ever powerful in this corner of the galaxy, and it was here that the mirroring Sith Academy rose into power to help strengthen the might of the Imperial Army. While the Jedi Temple on Tython was experiencing halting progress thanks to the supposed Juyn the Butcher, the Sith Academy here on Korriban was flourishing greater than ever.

Still, the mighty Sith Emperor was growing more and more nervous that his lowest ranks would soon be infiltrated by Jedi scum. Not only was he using Korriban as his dark academy, but this system was also holding the largest reserve garrison in the entire Sith Armada. Scores and fleets of Sith soldiers floated over and marched across the burned lands of Korriban, and all would soon experience the arrival of the greatest confidant the Emperor had at his disposal.

"With all due respect, ma'am, the siege in the casino won't last very long at all. The sniper agent you put in charge can't seem to conduct any new plans. She expects us to wait out until a rescue ship comes to free us."

It was a spotty transmission, far far away from the skies of Coruscant.

"So what's the issue then? Your mission was to secure the bounty hunter and the sniper, and wait for rescue afterwards. It sounds like they're doing their jobs, but their underlings are failing to fall in the line. A rescue team should be expected to rescue people, after all."

The officer on the other line felt a cold presence fill her mind, even through the remote hologram located half-way around the galaxy. It scared her to make this conversation, but this was the Empire's Wrath she was dealing with. It was this Lady of the Sith that she had to report to, since the bounty hunter fell under her personal command.

"All right. W-we'll await further orders, and see if the ship arrives."

"I'm glad to hear that." The Wrath replied. "You're lucky you caught me before I landed on Korriban. Once I'm there I have orders of my own to follow, and I'd hate to see your failure ruin my operation."

"Agreed." She delivered a proud salute through the hologram, and was quickly silenced as the Empire's Wrath abruptly shut her off. The powerful Sith Lord had felt her transport land on the solid ground of Korriban, and expected to greet her personal guard any second after.

"My Lady, we've arrived." A pair of masked Sith Warriors marched through the door to her cabin, and parted ways to make room for their mistress's arrival. She gave them a nod, and walked by them to leave her ship. As she passed through the final ducts, she equipped her crimson red cloak, and latched her curved-hilt lightsaber firmly to her belt. The bizarre white trappings of the female Sith Lord were hidden beneath the dark red overcoat, which fit her personality better as the door opened, and the dust of ancient Korriban rolled past her feet.

"Welcome, Lady Rose." A series of Sith officers bowed, and one black Sith Inquisitor gave her a quick greeting. "It's so good to finally have you with us."

Her name was Darth Rosario. However, it was Asuna Yuuki's head hidden under the hood of her crimson red cloak, with her familiar brown hair and pale white skin present in The Old Republic Online. Her eyes were experiencing a soft shade of yellow over her usually cheery brown, but in this realm, it almost suited her more. She was, after all, a Dark Lord of the Sith, and Wrath of the Empire.

"I'm glad I made it too." She sharply replied. "Now, show me my new army."

* * *

 ** _The Lightning Flash!_ **

**Yikes! She's turned to hold quite the cloak in the world of the Old Republic Online! So, I'm not sure how many people have read my other story for SAO (I doubt anyone here). Anyway, it was a crossover with the Lord of the Rings, and I decided to switch some themes from that story when writing this one.**

 **Man, Asuna is a Sith Lord. I bet she's quite the opponent for the Republic players! I'll go ahead and admit, when I write this story and its chapters, I'm rewatching a lot of old Star Wars footage from _ all _the full-length films. However, there is one particular Sith Lord that I've used to model Asuna after, and although it may not be very obvious now, you'll probably catch on as she's delivered later on...**

 **Anyway! I have had a blast writing this story. More to come soon I hope.**

 **Until Then!**


	10. 9: The Weapon of a Jedi Knight

**Author's Note: I went and saw "Yesterday" this weekend. I really liked it!**

 **Numba Nine is here! Does our hero finally earn his weapon?**

 **Also I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Nine - The Weapon of A Jedi Knight

* * *

"Finally! I'm so excited to finally get my own lightsaber."

Kirito wondered through the rocky yet pleasant hillsides of Tython. The lush green vegetation matched the mountainous slopes very well in the light, and all the different lifeforms and aliens that surrounded the landscape helped remind him of what universe he was now a part of.

The little T7-UE, or better known as Yui now, followed behind him with her mini-map drawn. The had wondered up several series of switchback paths, gaining elevation, and finding more and more difficult foes along the way. The violent flesh raiders had stolen the same training blades that Kirito had from Mortis, which made them very tough opponents, or at least compared to the random beasts lurking behind the trees or the bushes. Kirito had just enough speed to deal fatal blows for every enemy he came across, and as several cave entrances loomed in the far distance, Yui the navigator shouted out to her master.

"Okay, daddy! The cave straight ahead is meant to be followed by Jedi Knights. The one that veers to the right is saved for Jedi Consulars. It's really important that you choose the right path before moving on."

"Um…right." Kirito slowed his walk, and pulled a finger up to scratch his cheek. "Yui, you mind telling me what the differences between the two are, again?"

"Oh Daddy…" Yui knew he played this game during his childhood, and she expected him to know a little more about the factions before purchasing the modern version. "Jedi Knights are the typical warriors of the Republic. They focus on lightsaber combat, and are here to defend the galaxy on the front lines." Her holographic head then turned up to the flowing tree branches above. "Consulars are bit more complicated. They are masters of the Force, and only use their light sabers to defend themselves. They take on more commanding or political roles in this universe. Basically, it all comes down to if you want to master lightsabers more, or the Force."

"Oh that's easy!" Kirito continued marching forward for the center cave entrance. "SAO, ALO, even GGO trained me to use a sword! I have no idea what this Force system is, and I still haven't figured out how to use it. I'll stick with what I know I'm good at for now."

"Okay." Yui giggled into her hand. "But you will need to use both skills regardless of your choice…I'm sure you'll be happy either way, daddy!"

"I hope so." He grinned as he marched on. "I'll need to be happy with it if I wanna lay the hammer down on this Juyn the Butcher."

* * *

Kirito entered his check point, and continued slashing his way through hordes of flesh raiders. Once in a while, he would discard the training blade he currently held, and replaced it with a fresh one dropped by his inexperienced enemies. It was getting rather suspicious that the flesh raiders were the only enemies after the check point, which had to mean he was getting close to the Forge of Tython.

Then, a sizable, but thin strip of rock and grass continued the path from the exit of the cave. It led all the way to a jagged peaked mountain on the other side, and even though a few trees dotted his view, Kirito could see the rising step on the other side. The Fallen Forge of Tython, and the old Jedi Order, sat at the end of his path. It looked half prehistoric, and half mechanical. He could see a faint glow of blue coming from one of the terminals, hopefully signifying that the machine still worked. There were three or four flesh raiders standing at the base of the stairs, which gave Kirito no cause for concern as he powered on his yellow electro sword, and ran forward for the fight.

"Alright! Until Juyn comes out and plays, looks like I'll just have to deal with you guys!" He slashed down his enemies in a quick yet civilized manner. Precise hits to their arms and legs left them immobile for the fight, and gave him time for quick jabs to the chest to send them to the ground all together.

Kirito felt proud enough after the near slaughter of the NPC beasts, but wanted more as he went to climb the stairs up to the forgotten forge. He expected his villainous obstacle would be hiding around the corner, but just as he tried using what senses he had, a voice shouted out from behind.

"Hey! Looks like you made it here faster than most newbies!"

Kirito turned to see his cousin, Leafa walking toward him with a smile and wave. She seemed to take her time up the stairs, but it was clear that she had been following him during the entire journey. "Though, you should probably be a little nicer to your T7 unit when asking for directions."

"Wha-?" Kirito yelled out in confusion. "What are you even talking about? And why did you follow me here, Sugu?"

"There you go again…" Leafa sighed as she crossed her arms, and made it up the steps to meet him. "Look, I understand my memory is messed up, or you already know me from somewhere, or something…but can you keep to just using my in-game name? It's kinda creepy when I hear my real name coming from some strange…"

"Sugu." Kirito looked her in the eye. "I'm not a stranger. I live in the same house as you…you need to trust me. So why did you follow me here? Where's Juyn the Butcher?"

"Oh him!" Leafa cracked a smile between two blushing cheeks. "Now I feel silly making all that up…there is no Juyn the Butcher! This is one of the Republic's beginner-only planets, Sith can't get here, you dummy!"

"…" Kirito's eyes started twitching, and his shoulders froze as they slumped forward in anger. "Are you serious?"

"Bahaha!" Leafa hated showing so many different emotions as the Jedi Master of Tython, but she really admired this Kirito character. In her mind, he really must know here from somewhere else if he could make her react like that all the time. "Yes! There was a story mission for starting Jedi, but I was the first one to clear it, so now we just make up trials for newbies before they make it to the forge. Which reminds me…"

She locked her eyes on the handle of his new saber staff poking over his shoulder. "That's the reason I'm here. You're not a Jedi, you aren't even a part of our faction…You still need to prove your worth if you wish to make your own light saber. Heck, as far as I can tell from your gamer tag, you don't even have allegiance to one side of the Force. Why should I let some grey stranger into my forge and make his own lightsaber? Especially one who insists he knows me from somewhere else?"

Kirito cracked his own smile of confidence, and raised his hand behind his back to grab the saber club. "Like you just said, I know you from somewhere else. I know you're a fighter, I know you never turn down a challenge…and I know you're a Kendo champion back in the real world."

"AGH!?" Leafa almost fell down the stairs in her reaction, all while Kirito drew his staff and powered on its yellow electricity. She started to feel anger boiling deep under her skin. He knew her name, he knew where she lived, and he even knew her hobbies. It was almost sounding like a creepy stalker had followed her throughout her entire life, and wondered into this game to finally get the chance to talk to her in person.

Either way, she admired what he said, and bent down to pick up a fallen training saber from a dead flesh raider. "You're on, kid. If you beat me, then you probably know all my moves. Let's see if you know what you're doing."

"Hold on." Kirito's eyes grew serious. "I want your best, not a handicap. Use your light saber, Leafa. Give me a real fight."

She wagged her finger. "No can do, newbie. I'll give you that fight once you beat me here." Leafa held the saber directly in front of her body at a forty-five-degree angle, just like she would in her kendo studio back in Japan.

Kirito wanted to smile at her predictability, but chose to mask his knowledge. He held the saber in one hand off to his right side, just like the time they first dueled after his release from SAO.

Leafa's eyes sparked with confusion for just a moment, as she was taken back to her kendo studio facing some mysterious person. Was that Kirito? Was he telling the truth after all, and triggering some sort of memory? Her thoughts quelled as she snapped back to the battle, and deflected a blow from Kirito's right side. They clashed for a few seconds afterwards, and backed away to both draw breath.

"Looks like the only way you'll ever beat me is by making some cheap shot like that." Leafa studied his form again. "You act like you're trying to use two blades? Already picking out a sub-class, are we?"

Kirito still held his weapon in one hand. "You could say that. Kinda silly that I have to wait when there are so many fallen swords all around us." He lunged in again, and instead of using a typical fencing attack like most one-handed users, he hacked at her side, and then back to the middle, as if he really did hold two blades.

Leafa was blown away by his foolish style of fighting, but laughed in delight as she actually found the fight to be rather fun. They danced around the foot of the forge over and over again, with yellow electricity coursing through the air as they locked blades back and forth. Kirito kept to strict attacking motions, while Leafa only used her weapon for defense, and never attack.

She then remembered what he said about the scattered sabers, and cracked a second smile as she raised a hand above her head. "Well, if you really wanna use another sword, here! Be my guest!" She used her force-wielding powers to lift three practice blades off the ground, and shot them at Kirito like darts to a board. He dodged the first one, but was left to swat the second away, leaving the third to smack him right in the chest.

Leafa finally made an open attack, but Kirito rolled forward out of the way as she smashed her weapon into the ground. He returned to his feet, and jumped high in the air to slam his saber down on her back, but she shook the ground with a push of force air, and set him flying back to his spot on the ground with a tornado of leaves.

"O-kay…" He slowly crawled back to his feet this time around. "I call hacks. You won't use your real light saber against me, but you feel okay using your stupid voodoo magic against a total 'newb' like you said?"

"I'm not using a real light saber against you because it could KILL you, Kirito!" She yelled to her stubborn cousin. "Gyah, are we really related? It's not my fault you chose that class without knowing how to use the Force!"

"Hey!" He snapped back, as if they were sitting at the dinner table back in Tokyo. "I had no choice in my pick! I love sword fighting, but this Force crap just hurts my brain!" He ran right at her, and sliced upward to try and disarm her weapon, but she parried the attack away, and sent the tip of his blade toward the sky.

"Well, people in this game are going to use the Force, Kirito. You're just going to have to get used to it!" She let him dish out a few more hits, and easily deflected them back his way. Kirito remembered how good Suguha was at sword fighting, but this Force Program was giving her unbelievable skill. It was almost as if she could predict his every move, and even control the timing and flow of her own body perfectly.

If that were the case, he knew he had to use a similar strategy to win this fight. He had no mind trick ability that would work on a fellow force-wielder…but what about a cousin?"

He smashed his saber into hers, and let them sit there for several passing seconds. Leafa held firm as Kirito did the same, and both fighters locked eyes, waiting for the other to break. Suddenly, though, Leafa's eyes flashed back to that same kendo gym, and again to the same fight against the mysterious opponent. He was her height, and even had her same real-life black eyes and hair, though only a little bit could be seen through the dueling mask. She then let the scene in her head play out a little more, and just as the two phantom kendo fighters held the same stances as she and Kirito did now, the fighter from her point of view suddenly raised her hands high to break up the locked blades, and smashed her kendo staff harshly over his head.

Leafa shot back into the world of Tython, and mimicked the same move. Kirito felt the weight leave his defense as her saber went high above her head, and the Master Jedi Consular brought her weapon down like a hammer to a nail, smashing Kirito on the top of his scalp in a brutally painful way.

Kirito somehow managed to endure the shocking hit for a brief second, and swatted his saber up to her hands, smashing the power button as hard as he could to send a shock through her fingers, forcing her to shriek with pain and drop the weapon from her grasp.

Kirito felt his whole body grow numb, but propped the saber between the ground and his palm to secure his hold on his weapon, like and old man with a cane. He let her make the first move by playing to her breaking memory, and disarmed her to finish the battle all in his favor.

Leafa held her lead hand with the other as they both throbbed with pain, all as Kirito rubbed the sore spot on the knob of his skull. Then, the Master Jedi's eyes widened as she realized what happened. "Did you…did you just disarm me?"

"Agh…" Kirito ignored her to tend to his tender scalp, but then it dawned on him that she was right. "Well what do ya know? I disarmed a Jedi Master! I guess I did win!"

"Mgh…lucky shot." Her skin tingled with rage at the thought of his words, and then realized the mistake she made by using her broken up memory…did he actually read her mind? Could he remember that fight? Her heart fluttered for a short second as she turned to cross her arms. "A-Anyway. Go on. The forge is open."

Kirito let her be, and stepped up to the old but powerful machine. He could feel the mystic energy circling the awesome technology, and used this time to bring out the pieces from his trip on Mortis. The lightsaber parts he found from his initial trials with Kayaba, and the crystal he found at the end. It had no color at this time, but Kirito wondered whether that would change once he welded his handle together.

He bent down on both of his knees, and let a bizarre instinct take over as he set down the pieces into the forge. Leafa turned away from her anger with eyes of wonder as she saw the radiant energy of force flowing around Kirito and the forge.

"This weapon will be your light in the darkness." She reminded him through all the confusion, and stepped back to let the scene unfold. "Let go of the energy you feel the moment you're ready."

Kirito closed his eyes, but channeled her words as the waxing force within him grew brighter and brighter. His state of meditation was reaching his peak once the pieces of his broken weapon rose to the air, and assembled into a fully-fledged light saber handle.

Kirito stood with a slow pace, and extended his hand to meet the floating hilt, gently wrapping his fingers around the mixture of cold steel and felt grip. He tilted the open end upward, and powered on a blade of total derelict purple, almost the color of an amethyst crystal.

Leafa was brought to total shock as she expected to see either blue or red. This was the forge for Jedi Knights, and she did sense good in him, but his grey trappings and mysterious figure led her to a possibility of the dark side. Purple was the color that shared both factions. Kirito seemed to wield both light and dark energy in his body, all of which left the poor girl even more confused than before.

Finally, the scene ended, and Kirito turned with a soft grin, and a fully-built lightsaber. "So, are you ready for a rematch?"

* * *

Kirito earned quite the victory against his old friend, and leader of the Tython Jedi Order, but far across the galaxy, an even closer ally of the former master of SAO was ruling with an iron fist.

The Sith Academy was a facility in use at the heart of the Sith Empire, dedicated to training Force sensitives in the ways of the Dark Side, and running archaeological projects in the Valley of the Dark Lords. Here, the second-in-command of the mighty empire, Asuna Yuuki ruled from her new office on Korriban as she overlooked the new arriving Sith Acolytes, and also managed the private Sith Garrison that strengthened the dark armada behind the scenes.

The Dark Lord, or the Empire's Wrath as she earned with her new title, sat in her office presiding over this holy, decrepit home world of the Sith. She was sent here to take charge of the new Sith students, lead over the reserve garrison, and quell any micro-uprisings that threatened her emperor's rule. If anything happened on the orange surface of this sorry landscape, she would see it reported on her desk, or through her visions.

She was strong with the Dark Side of the Force, but it was her unique skills with a lightsaber that earned her a special place at the Emperor's right-hand side. Many Sith counselors, and even close friends of Emperor Lusac wanted her role, but Asuna earned it with relative ease thanks to her charm on the battlefield, and in the command room.

"My Lady." One guard reported to her from the black doorway of her office. "You have an unmarked call coming from Coruscant."

"Finally." Asuna set her other work aside, and switched on the hologram function inside her chamber. Her guards made a nod to leave, and as the doors to the office shut, the pink-haired bounty hunter, Lisbeth, appeared out of nowhere.

"Well, been a long time. Hasn't it, Asuna?"

"Spare me." Asuna never looked up at her ally's hologram. It was one of the few players that referred to her real-life name. "Why is it taking you so long to leave Coruscant?"

Lisbeth put a hand behind her head. "Thank this idiot Jedi Master pinning us in this dinky casino. He can't blow up the building since it's part of the game's level design. It was funny at first, but now I'm starting to root for them to blow us up. If I have to spend even two more nights here, I'm gonna lose my mind." She tried to clear her anger before addressing her superior. "Anyway, we have news that Amun Din is leaving Alderaan, which could make way for an Imperial assault on the core."

"Sounds great." Asuna kept writing in her personal log for the academy. "And what about the data from Amun Din's personal computer? Did you manage to even get the one thing I asked for?"

"Gsh." Lisbeth felt no fear, unlike the last person who contacted the Empire's Wrath. She was a close ally to the Imperial ruler, she had no reason to tread lightly through the waters. "Yea, we've already sent that to your command ship above Korriban. Not sure how you plan on leaving your post to make the assault, but I'd appreciate it if you wait until we're off to tag along. I need a good fight on another planet after this stupid standoff."

"I guess can wait, as long as you live." Asuna had faith that her close friends Lisbeth and Sinon would survive the escape, but the idea that she had to wait for their return to make her own assault on an enemy planet? What a ridiculous request. It was almost enough to end the call right there.

In fact, as the seconds passed into a long minute, a small flicker in the Force flew through Asuna's brain. She felt some looming air craft make a pass through Korriban's atmosphere, and once the ship grew closer and closer to her temple, she could eventually feel who sat inside its helm as captain.

"Mghh…Lisbeth, I'll have to call you back."

"Fine." Lisbeth was angry to leave the conversation. "Leave me here bored. See if I care."

Asuna shut the line off, she had no further business talking to her Bounty Hunter. The shrill voice of Lisbeth left a sour note in Asuna's mind as she now prepared herself for the entrance of an internal rival within the Empire. She was the firm second-in-command to the emperor, and one of his closest allies, but that only meant a scheming pyramid of Sith underlings were lined up and ready to watch her fall, only to climb the ladder she built and assume her role as Empire's Wrath.

"Let him come." She scoffed to herself in the darkness of her office. "I'd love to give him another reminder that I'm the one above him."

* * *

 **The Dark Lord is getting some company? And Kirito has his light saber! I went with a purple like Gun Gale, plus its more of a neutral color.**

 **More soon! Until then!**


	11. 10: The Jedi Arts

**Author's Note: Number 10 is finally here! Kiriot has a lightsaber, now let's see what he can do with it...**

 **Also I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Ten - The Jedi Arts

* * *

The Korriban Arrival Port was the main spaceport on Korriban during this stalled Cold War. It was near the Academy and the Valley of the Dark Lords, and was mostly used for shuttles to drop potential acolytes who were then taken to the Academy. Here, their respective training overseers would meet and brief them on the basics of Sith training.

However, since Emperor Lusac had deemed Korriban as the new hiding spot for his surprise massive garrison, this meant the Korriban space port would see unique traffic of high regard to the Sith Empire, presumably for military conferencing.

A surprise guest had just landed on the slopes of Korriban's derelict mountains, and through the smoke of red waste, the shuttle of Lord Trentyn landed.

"What do you want?" Asuna remarked with an annoyed tone in her voice.

Darth Trentyn had to make the long walk up the mountain, away from the space port, and into the academy to find the hidden Empire's Wrath. She had no desire to meet him at the port, and displayed her own show of power by summoning him to her once he made his land.

"Lady Rose." He replied with a smooth accent. "So good to see you too."

"You're not here to make compliments." She kept her eyes on her papers. "The Emperor sent you to lead our forces of Tatooine. Why did you feel the need to stop by Korriban?"

"Why not?" He wondered around her room, and picked at several devices on the wall. "I wanted to see this legendary garrison for myself. If Emperor Lusac set you to be in charge of this monster force, then it had to be quite the show of military pride."

"Oh please." She bit her tongue. Trentyn was toying with her. They were rivals under the heels of Lusac, and since she held the title he desired, Trentyn made it his remaining goal inside The Old Republic Online to pester her every chance he got.

"You don't believe me?" He replied with amusement strapped to his voice. "Lusac wouldn't shut up about the damned thing back on Dromund Kaas. He said it would lead us to an ultimate victory. The knife that cuts through the Galaxy. If I have to play hooky from my mission to see it before you drove it through the Core, then so be it."

"You're point?" Asuna finally gave him a piece of her mind as she looked up to meet his eyes. One was cloaked in a cyborg's patch, while the other was crystal clear and healthy. She felt more focus looking at his artificial eye. "It's just an army. Not unlike anything you've seen before."

"You shouldn't be so modest." He teased her still. "Looking after such a hidden and discrete force on the far end of our territory is quite the task for the Empire's elite executioner. Your military excellence and skill on the battlefield is meant to shine brightly under the fading stars of Korriban. If this was enough of a force to be tamed by the mighty Darth Rosario, I needed to see it for my own eyes."

"Eye." She looked back down at her papers. "You lost the one…in a dual with me, remember?"

"Tch." He remembered. It was the main driving force for his arrival to this literal wasteland of a planet. Deep down, Trentyn was never sure if he loved or hated the fiery commander, Asuna. He admired her exquisite beauty and skills with a lightsaber, but hated her for taking his dream role by his Emperor's side. In a way, the rivalry was formed by his emotions alone.

Asuna went to ridicule him more, but a flash came from her comms link just before she made her remark. "Attention! There has been an uprising from Sith Acolytes at the center of the Valley."

"Oh good." Trentyn used this to further his humor. "Now we get to see how the commander responds. First day on the job, and the Valley of the Dark Lords falls into traitorous hands."

The Valley of the Dark Lords was a canyon and burial ground of Korriban's Sith Lords. Originally constructed by the planet's natives as a burial ground for their kings; the Exiles of the Jedi Order who came to be known as the Dark Lords of the Sith added their own tombs to the Valley. Along with several prominent tombs, the Valley was home to the ancient Sith Great Temple, and Lord Khreusis's Stronghold which would loom over the Valley for several millennia.

This was Asuna's only form of entertainment on this dreary rock; teaching underlings and traitors a lesson in respect for the Empire. She knew Trentyn could sense this uprising with his Force power. He probably only came here to mock her in the moment.

Either way, the powerful commander stood from her chair, and made sure to keep her curved-hilt lightsaber firmly at her belt. "Well, let's see this rebellion to its end, and send you off with a show. I'd hate for you to catch the next flight to Tatooine empty handed."

* * *

"Okay, let's start with some basics."

The sun was shining over the Jedi Temple clearing on gorgeous Tython. There was a decent crowd of people enjoying the outdoor virtual weather in front of the sacred hall, and reserving one of the many dueling platforms out front was the Jedi Master Leafa, her old friend Recon, and the strange new addition to her teaching tree, Kirito.

"Awe, come on." Kirito shrugged. "I already know how to use a sword, don't I? Do I really need to learn all this formal crap?"

"Would you pipe down and just listen for one measly minute!" Recon was starting to grow angry with the novice swordsman holding his brand-new lightsaber handle. He was beginning to wonder why his close master even let the boy into the forge in the first place.

Sometimes, Leafa wondered that same thought to herself as well. "No kidding, your ego really needs trimmed, tough guy. This is a really big galaxy, and if you want to master the Jedi styles of combat, you should test them all out, and see which one you like before you leave for the capital."

Leafa jumped off one of the short stone walls that surrounded the dueling pit, and paced behind Kirito's back. "In the Star Wars Universe, there are seven main forms of Lightsaber Combat. Each one has its own philosophy, strengths, and weaknesses. They're all built to address or compliment the strengths and weaknesses of the ones before it. You're task now is to see which one you like the best."

"Whatever one will get me out of here faster…" Kirito repeated under his breath.

Recon used his force powers to hurl a small pebble at Kirito's forehead, which snapped the grey swordsman back into a serious demeanor.

Leafa rolled her eyes at the two and carried on. "As with all martial arts, like kendo in the real world for example, lightsaber fighting isn't a perfect practice. Different forms favor different areas. You really like hacking your opponents to bits with fast attacks. Maybe you'd like two lightsabers instead of one to compliment this quick style of play?"

Kirito shrugged. "Would I have to go back to the forge?"

Leafa giggled into her hand. "No, you can just stop off at a Republic space station on your way back to Coruscant! That's where you pick your sub-class. For now, there are a few black training blades here if you ever feel like dueling with an extra sword instead of one."

She finally turned to face the field. "But for now, just turn on your lightsaber."

Kirito obliged, and drew his shining silver and brown handle. The brilliant purple blade drew some eyes over toward their pit, and even Recon looked confused by not seeing the color blue or green.

Leafa nodded. "It feels weird, right? It's not like a sword or a kendo stick. It's almost weightless."

"No kidding." Kirito remembered his loose and embarrassing fight with Mathis in the beginning. "I even had one when I played GGO. This one feels totally lighter than that one! It's doesn't even feel like a sword, more like…"

"An extension of yourself, and your arm." Leafa smiled brightly. "This is compounded by the fact that the saber is defined mostly by its hilt, which is custom made by the person that's using it. So, it goes without saying that there are a few different philosophies on how to use a lightsaber. When you get off Tython, you'll be able to get more creative with your saber. Change its hilt, its color, even the core can change!"

"Sounds pretty cool." Kirito narrowed his vision and eyed Recon. "Let's say we test this baby out."

Recon agreed, and powered on his green lightsaber from his belt. "Sounds good to me! You're on!"

They interlocked green and purple for several blows. Like Leafa, Recon was a Jedi Consular, but his lightsaber was single bladed, not double like hers. He too practiced a more defensive stance as Kirito tried hacking his way to a small victory, but all was paired with more coaching from the experienced blonde trainer.

"Stop trying to hack his arm off!" She shouted with fear at Kirito. "Use a grazing blow on the body instead. Simple slices and grazes can be used more to disable. Immobilizing the enemy and taking them out of the duel is more of the Jedi way than killing and dismembering."

"Okay?" Kirito yelled back as he shifted into a defensive pose, just to hear her words better. "What happens if killing the guy is the only way out?"

Leafa smacked the palm of her hand to her face. "Boys…use a stab, not a hack. Using the tip of the blade to pierce the body is more humane. The Jedi Order prefers this as a means of honorably killing an opponent."

"So little grazes, then stabs?" Kirito chuckled, now thankful that he and Recon wore armored gauntlets over their arms. "Am I practicing kendo or fencing?"

Leafa put her foot down in frustration. "These two marks are considered the most fundamental in lightsaber combat! The lightsaber blade is weightless! That makes control more difficult, especially for non-Force Sensitives. Being able to stop the edge of the blade at a graze, or direct the tip of the blade to precise points without making a mess is considered a sign of control."

"I get it." Kirito stepped back, and twirled his purple lightsaber in hand. "It's more like a dance than a sword fight."

"Right." Leafa leaned back on the rock. "It's not even a fight at all. Jedi fight with defense in mind, and only go in for an attack if they believe it can bring the conflict to an early end."

"Hmm…" Kirito pondered while Recon made no sudden moves. The grey swordsman then looked up. "Sounds nice, but…I'm not exactly a Jedi, remember?"

Before Leafa could react, Kirito darted forward, and slashed Recon's lightsaber handle in two. The defenseless Jedi Consular stepped back with both hands raised to spare his limbs, and shrieked with fear once his prized weapon fell to the ground in pieces.

"No!" Recon lowered to collect his broken tool. "I spend all my post-game credits on that handle!"

"Idiot!" Leafa yelled at Kirito. "This is why I refused to use my lightsaber on you for your trial! You do realize these aren't just toys, remember?"

"Ugh, y-yea…sorry about that, Recon. I-I can buy you a new one once I get the cash."

"Ghgh…ohh, it's fine." Recon muttered. "Getting mad solves nothing. That was a good move, by the way."

"Thanks." Kirito felt more comfortable hearing Recon in a lighter mood. "I figured if I can't stab ya, disarming you would be the next best thing. Sort of like how Sugu suggested."

"Right." Leafa raised a finger under her chin, and thought back to her trial dual with Kirito at the Forge. "That is an interesting move. If you get any better with the Force, you could always try a force pull? One of the most common tricks is simply miming a force pull. That'll make the opponents saber fly right into your hands, or onto the floor."

"Now that sounds like something I should learn how to do!" Kirito's ears perked up. "I need some training with the Force, anyway."

Leafa felt excited to hear Kirito enjoying himself. "One example I saw had an opponent using a heavy blaster shooting against a Jedi. The Jedi blocked the shots, and swiped across the field to send the bullets flying. The gunman took aim one more time, but then out of nowhere, the gun falls apart. It was cut in half by the saber.

"No way." Kirito looked like a child in a movie theater. "Did he cut it out of his hands?"

"No!" Leafa cheered. "He pulled the weapon from the soldier, and cut it in mid-air! Mastering both lightsaber combat and the Force can put together some awesome strategies. But be careful, Jedi only use the Force in combat during the most extreme cases."

"Sounds good to me!" He stepped up for a second battle. "Let's try out some lessons using the Force."

"U-um…" Leafa stepped away, and dotted her fingers around with an embarrassed expression. "Kirito…it's not that simple."

"What do you mean?" He laughed. "You're a master consular! Yui told me you guys are rulers of the Force!"

"S-Sort of?" She timidly answered. "Listen…the Force isn't some in-game skill that can be mastered by gaining a few levels, or practicing a move for a couple of hours like lightsaber combat. It's a really complicated thing."

"So is sword-fighting." He argued back. "Why is that any different?"

"Agh!" Recon stood up with frustration. "Look, ya see that tree? Try to pull it towards you."

"That's stupid." Kirito scoffed. "That tree is humungous."

"Okay." Recon shot back. "Try grabbing the pebbles at the bottom."

Kirito narrowed his vision, and raised his hand to meet the rock. He concentrated all his thoughts on the far away object, and soon realized…he had no idea what he was doing.

"There's gotta be more to it than that!" Kirito yelled out with anger. "You can't even give me a hint or something?"

"Uhh…" Leafa could have done that, but it was very hard to explain based on the direction this lesson was going. "Sorry, Recon didn't mean just try and pull the rock…try…try sensing everything in between the rock and your hand. Really see if you can feel the space and energy between yourself and the object."

"That makes a little more sense…" Kirito shut his eyes, and took several deep breathes to maximize his concentration. He exhaled one last time, and opened his eyes, taking in the sight of everything that sat between him and that rock.

The air, the specks of sand, the bugs that flew by, the wind that blew through, even the sweat and grime on his palm. Every single piece of matter that stood between Kirito and that rock was now coursing through his mind. Kirito felt his brow growing more and more hot as he tried shortening the distance between his fingers and the stone. Second after second passed, and still nothing made that distant pebble budge or move at all.

Kirito finally snapped, and drew his purple lightsaber, threw it like a hatchet, and sliced the rock in two as he watched the ignited hilt bounce off away from the debris.

Leafa and Recon both paused, and after the blonde Jedi master broke out in laughter. Recon relieved another sigh. "Okay…now the next step will be to pull the lightsaber back, but we gotta master that rock thing first."

"Okie Doakie, guys! Time to take my boy Kirito back to the capital!"

Everyone turned back to the main pathway leading from the temple gates as Klein the Smuggler ran for their fighting pit and grabbed the aforementioned Kirito by his trembling arm.

"Huh!?" Leafa was startled to see Klein in such a rapacious mood as he tried stealing Kirito from their training session, or maybe she just wanted to spend more time with the mysterious black-haired boy. "Hold on, what are you talking about?"

Klein turned to answer them. "I'm talking about the fact that Agil needs my help, and we need to get Kirito some action on a battlefield before he's ready to take on the Empire. Some thugs on Coruscant should be the perfect testing grounds for his new lightsaber…you do have a lightsaber now, right Kirito?"

"Huh? O-Oh yea, I do." Kirito was rudely still in thought about the Force System, and through his disability to understand it, he actually tuned out everything else Klein had to say.

Recon stepped up as well. "Is Master Agil alright? Surely a player like that can handle a group of thugs on his own."

"Nah, it ain't that simple." Klein started walking away with Kirito. "Some Empire Bounty Hunter tried stealing something from the capital grounds. A rescue squad came to help them out, but their ship got blown up in the process. They're expecting imperial reinforcements to support the stranded goons at some casino in the lower districts, which is why we have to fly in there and…"

Leafa lowered her eyebrows and put her foot down. "Could it be that Master Amun-din announced that she's on her way back to Coruscant, and you guys need to have the mess cleaned up by the time she arrives back?"

Klein froze at that sentence, and both Kirito and Recon awaited an answer as the green gilled gunslinger turned with a smirk.

"Aye…let's just say Agil has nothing to be afraid of, but…I did promise I would be there in a big group message."

"Ugh…idiot." Leafa sighed and strolled on toward the temple. "Well, let's go. The sooner we leave, the faster we can get to Coruscant."

"HOLD ON!" Recon jumped up like a maniac. "Y-You're telling me we're going with them?"

"No!" Leafa yelled back. "I-I'm saying I…look, I figured I could lend a hand. If this is your way of inviting yourself along, then I guess it's up to Captain Klein on whether or not you're invited."

"Captain Klein?" The gunslinger liked the sound of that. "Hey, I'll take it. By the way, have you seen my ship yet?"

Leafa's face turned blood red with rage as she turned down his obvious pick up remark, but Kirito kept a serious expression locked on her face. "Hold on, are you even allowed to leave Tython? It'd be kinda rude of us to steal the Jedi Master away at a pivotal point in the war."

Leafa's red face turned from anger to true blush as Kirito called her out. She waved away her emotion and started making for the gate. "Look…the academy has been pretty slow lately, a-and I'm sure the Republic could use some expert lightsabers on the front lines. It's been a while since I've fought in an actual battle."

"No kidding." Recon admitted. "I mean I'll be surprised if Amun Din lets you leave here. Remember what happened on…?"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

The whole valley of training Jedi froze to the sound of Leafa's echoing voice. The three gentlemen around her halted with total fear, and the confused Jedi Master of Tython felt her face growing hotter and hotter with each passing moment of silence.

Finally, the awkward Klein cracked a laugh, and gave her a clap of support. "Okay, that sounds fine by me! Let's ditch this boring temple, and head back to the capital for some real fun!"

* * *

 **Finally catching up on SAO Alicization dub! I've seen the sub already and enjoyed it thoroughly!**

 **Asuna has a rival, and she's pretty confident in her own abilities. And Kirito as expected is good with a blade, but he's also bad with the Force? Very odd for him!**

 **Eleven soon! Until then!**


	12. 11: A Fitting Reunion

**Author's Note: Chapter Eleven at last! What a busy Summer! (Or winter in the southern hemisphere!)**

 **I have a battle for you today. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Eleven - A Fitting Reunion

* * *

The Salamander was flying through hyperspace as it made way for its recent destination of Coruscant. Tasked with assisting Master Agil at a very distressed casino, Kirito and the others were making their way through the stars to lend their hands for Republic allies and friends.

As well, Kirito talked the group into stopping at the Republic's main Fleet over Tython to grab his class upgrades and a second lightsaber for his left hand. He was now a duel-wielding warrior with two purple blades, and the long flight through space left him with a great opportunity to practice his skills.

"Ouch! Yui, do you have to use those lasers? Is there not a softer option?"

"Sorry, Daddy." Yui's little droid form mused as she continued pelting her in-game father with orange beams. "Try blocking more them! I'm sure that would cut down on the pain."

"Damn, what a burn!" Klein leaned back in his seat around a holographic chess set across from Recon as he entertainingly watched Kirito practice his skills. "The little droid is lighting fires! Also, what's up with it calling you daddy?"

"Uhh…" Kirito started rubbing a new laser wound. "It's a long story."

"Pervert." Leafa got the wrong idea as she sat on the other side of the room, and she seemed to disapprove of everything that came out of Kirito's character. "Just keep up the practice. We might land at Coruscant any moment now."

"Easy for you to say…" Kirito raised his sabers. "You've sat their coaching me into injuries all flight long. I wanted training with the Force. I already have skills blocking bullets."

"Do you?" Leafa retorted. "The only people who can use these weapons effectively are those who are strong enough with The Force. From what I've gathered, you could use some more work in that department." She said that with the idea that Kirito was weak with the Force, but even she could not deny the powerful feeling she felt when standing near him. He was a child of the Force, or at least it felt that way to her. It was so frustrating to her. He was clearly powerful, so why was he not displaying any of his true potential?

Kirito started blocking more of his daughter's onslaught. "Well the ship isn't flying very smoothly. In a normal assault, I can block anything you throw at me. But I need to hone my Force reading skills."

"I don't know what those are." Recon yelled over to Kirito, while he also started scratching his head as he tried to figure out how Klein managed to beat him for the third time in a row. "Are you saying you want to get better at scanning an opponent's Force presence?"

"Sure, I'll go with that." Kirito replied. "Just something with better crowd control."

"Hmm…" Yui the T7 unit mewed to herself, and then deployed a small cylindrical canon. "Here, let's try a blind test!"

She shot a black, oily liquid that stuck to Kirito's face, and blocked everything between his bangs to his nose. The young Jedi started panicking while the other flight members busted out laughing.

"Agh!" Kirito was hacking at thin air now. "This is even worse!"

"Trust your instincts!" Leafa cheered with support. "Think back to the pebbles!"

Kirito took his breaths and let his mind clear as he tried to familiarize himself with the air in the room. He started feeling, and hearing everything there, but it was not bogging down his mind by any means. He also managed to hear Yui power on her laser blaster, and quickly reacted by blocking every bullet she sent his way.

"See!" Leafa clapped at Kirito's progress. "You really are a natural!"

"Yea…naturally lucky." Klein smirked. "You silly Jedi kids can play with your Force mechanics. There aren't any Jedi characters that can master things in this game for flying ships like this one."

"Says the guy leaving his ship on auto-pilot." Recon replied quietly. "Speaking of which, I bet we're almost there."

His Force senses were powerful. At that moment the ship halted in the atmosphere of Coruscant, and quickly enough Klein navigated the Salamander down through the clouds of the urban planet and toward the fiery battle on the Starlight Casino bridge.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Klein swiveled in his pilot's chair and turned to the other team members sitting in his cockpit.

"Why are you asking us?!" Recon yelped. "You were the one who invited us to this mission! I thought you had a brief from Master Agil!"

"He probably does, Recon." Leafa assured him. "What he means to ask is what are the three of us going to do?"

"Good question." Kirito was picking at one of his light saber hilts. "Klein can act as sky support, and someone can wait on board with him and fill his gun's chair."

"Well hey! You are pretty good at doing that, buddy!" Klein patted Kirito on the back. "After all you were the main reason we managed to leave Ilum in one piece."

"No, we need Kirito on the ground." Leafa suggested. "He needs to develop his Jedi skills man-to-man."

"He's not even a Jedi." Recon snapped out. "So what, are you going to suggest that I'm the one who stays behind with the smuggler?"

"Actually…" Leafa paused. "Yeees?"

"And leave you with the rookie?!" Recon stood from his seat. "No way! How can you even say that comfortably!?"

"Are you saying I'm too weak to hold my own?" Leafa replied with a hint of anger. "I'm trying to suggest that I go with Kirito in case he needs support."

"Great, so now I'm the weak one." Kirito finished his mechanics and stood to turn for the door. "You all decide your own roles. I'm going boots on the ground to test my new toys out."

Kirito left the room, which left the other three soldiers there to judge the black swordsman silently, and it all ended with a typical sigh from Recon.

"Fine. I'll stay in the turret…just don't die on me, okay?"

Kirito and Leafa were running along the lower road section of the Starlight bridge district, and were soon about to round the corner that saw the casino's lower entrance. It was no doubt guarded by Republic soldiers on the outside, and hidden bounty hunters on the inside.

Kirito peaked around the street corner to see the slow stake-out taking place, all while Leafa whispered her thoughts. "So, the plan is we trick the guys inside into thinking their shuttle's arrived, then we have Klein play like he's their pickup and trap them on board?"

"That's the gist of it. We'll try thinning them out on our end so Klein doesn't get overloaded, but he should be fine if he puts out the ship's security gas."

"Will the gas kill them?" Leafa asked with concern. "I'd like to keep our hands clean on this mission if at all possible."

"You really are a Jedi Knight." Kirito laughed, and turned to look her in the eye. "So how do you think we should go about getting into the casino?"

"Hmm…" Leafa put a finger to her lips as she crossed her arms. "You're wearing dark colors, and some Sith players like to run with purple saber crystals. If we can get you near the facility in a normal way, they may just mistake you as one of their own. But I'm all in my Jedi robes."

"We could have me go in and clear a path to the doors. Then you take the bottom and Agil takes the main floor."

"Sure…" Leafa liked the plan, but failed to understand how they would get Kirito inside the casino. While the two of them struggled to come up with a creative plan, their third guest suggested something rather amusing.

"Oh daddy! Did I ever tell you my legs come equipped with rocket boosters?"

* * *

After dangling from the tiny T7-UE model over a bottomless drop of Coruscant's thick air, Kirito was slowly regaining his sanity and courage as they approached the wall of the casino.

"Okay…we need to get inside before I start getting the confidence to look down."

"Oh, you wouldn't want to do that, Daddy." Yui said with joy as she flew him to a low sitting window. "It's quite the drop, over 1000 feet to be precise!"

"Yea…1000 feet…you are a smart one, Yui." Kirito was struggling to love his robotic daughter as she started carving a sizable hole into the large lower bay window. Kirito also managed to stay distracted as he scanned inside the glass to see if any Imperials were on that floor, but was instead meet with a dimly lit conference room.

He and Yui landed safely inside and started up the steps toward a doorway to the hall. Kirito let Yui perform an optical scan of the building's layer plan, which left the small AI droid shrieking with a startling new discovery.

"Daddy! Yui yelled out. "You're never going to believe this…"

"What?" Kirito stopped looking down the hall as Yui finished her scanning report. "What is it?"

"It's about the Imperial leaders. The bounty hunter and the sniper…They're…they're…!"

"What?!" Kirito wanted to understand the severity of Yui's words, and then turned once they heard a young woman cough.

"They're right behind ya, and they're packing some serious heat."

Kirito gasped with all the air in his lungs, and slowly turned to the sound of a very shrill, but very familiar voice. It was Lisbeth's. She was at their backs with a rifle in one hand and a pair of Imperial guards stationed either side of her shoulders. She gave them her best smile, but Kirito displayed nothing but sadness plastered on his face once he realized just how widely divided his friends must be inside this game.

"Lis-beth?"

"Hmm?" She lowered her rifle slightly with a puzzled expression on her face. How did he know her name?

 _*BLAST*_

An explosion rang from upstairs, which clearly meant the Republic had finally decided to storm the casino, and was ready to start a cross fire in the lobby. Yui took that as a signal to ignite her jets and shoot down the hallway like a bumper cart to escape the Imperial guns.

Meanwhile, Kirito ignited his lightsabers, and sliced Lizbeth's gun barrel down to the floor. He used his other saber to deflect a bullet back to the chest of one of her guards, and then darted behind the door to avoid getting shot by the third enemy. Lisbeth scoffed in anger and picked up the weapon of her fallen comrade. She signaled to the remaining guard to pass through the door for a pursuit, all while she managed to turn on her jetpack to fly through the open window behind them.

Kirito joined the fight upstairs and noticed Leafa and Agil were leading their forces throughout the entire lobby. Republic commandos swarmed the first floors of the casino, and Imperial criminals were slowly backing into the back half of the building.

"They're probably going to force themselves upstairs!" Kirito shouted over to Agil and Leafa. "They're expecting a getaway on the roof!"

"Bright idea!" Agil sliced a laser beam into the ground. "That way we either trap 'em downstairs, or let Klein catch them in his ship!"

"Hopefully he can handle it." Leafa was shielding some spray from an enemy mini gun. "Same thing for our guys down here!"

Kirito nodded, but quickly jumped at light speed to tackle Leafa to the ground. The bullet that barely missed her was made of metal, not laser. It was harder for the Jedi Councilor to spot, which left Leafa thankful to have Kirito by her side.

"Thanks!" Leafa picked herself up behind a building column. "What was that?"

"A really good marksman." Kirito was looking around the pillar, but regretted ever doing so as he was met immediately by a second bit of miserable news.

Shino Asada, or Sinon as she was better known, was the master sniper for the Empire all this time. He now had four friends fighting for the Republic, and two friends fighting for the Empire. He was still missing Asuna and Silica, but he figured they would have to come later as he tried dealing with the mess before him first.

He looked around at the broken entrance of the casino. Rubble and smoke shrouded the lobby of this NPC establishment, which left Kirito wondering why it was so valuable. What did these Imperial bounty hunters want with this area? Were they just using it to hide out, and were they carrying something far more valuable with them?

He then noticed some of the Republic commandos held great shields on their left arms. Large metal plates that were easily deflecting enemy lasers. He rounded up his own idea and gather two or so troopers to assist him in a newly hatched plan.

"Keep your shields together." He ushered a command to the strangers. "Shoot either side of your shield, but leave me with the middle. I've got it covered." He put away his purple sabers and picked up a fallen rifle on the ground. Sinon the sniper had no idea what the grey commander was carrying, which left Kirito with a plan to hide his true weapon for the time being.

The phalanx formation of commandos slowly marched down the scarred red carpet of the inner casino, and all opposing fire fell down on their advancing bodies like a red rain of terror. Sinon's bolts were flying off their sturdy shields like water on rock. She was growing angrier with each step the Republicans moved. Eventually, one of her sniper bolts pierce the left man's shield, and nicked him in the outer shoulder. He yelled with pain, and almost dropped his shield, but Kirito reached out and grabbed him with his off hand.

"Keep moving!" He yelled with a strain in his voice. "We've got this!"

Agil and Leafa were still working hard back at the entrance columns, but now were totally left in awe as Kazuto advanced the small unit of troopers down the corridor. Sinon tried again to pierce the well-armored shields, but nothing broke through as she kept missing her shots due to frustration.

Just then, a unit beside Sinon tossed a small round object to the feet of the commando unit. Kirito was too busy firing forward to watch it initially roll at his boots, but looked down once the beeping device tapped his foot.

"Not…good!" He dropped his gun and spread his arms out to try and summon a large force shield with his mind, but the power was not great enough to keep him on his feet, nor to keep his allies alive. The two men with him flew through the air to their fiery deaths.

The Imperial barrage kept firing down on the explosion, and Leafa looked on with a horrified expression. Sinon left her scope for a moment to grab a natural view of the scene unfolding, but then signaled to her unit.

"Stop firing!" She yelled out with a hint of anger underneath her voice. She was hoping that her troops would hold their fire in time, but then noticed that the boy at the middle of all the action was still alive. Kirito stood his ground and kept his stance still with no weapons in his hands.

Sinon nudged the trooper to her right, who then through a cylindrical grenade at the feet of Kirito. The device discharged a thick, smoky fog that shrouded the Republic's side of the field in a nasty blind spot.

Leafa coughed, while Agil tried to push the fumes away. He could not get close enough without inhaling some of the smoke, which quickly weakened his efforts.

Sinon looked on, and just as her second-in-command was awaiting the next orders, she placed her finger on her sniper rifle trigger.

"All units…fire at will!"

A massive wall of ammunition shot through the smokescreen toward the entrance of the casino. No Imperial trooper let up their attack as flashes of red and mixed colors shot through the stacks of fog at the Republic enemy on the other side. Sinon sent several large sniper bolts through the dense smoke, and hoped they landed on important targets, but as she went to fire a third, her eyes opened with shock an awe.

All the bullets that they had fired suddenly froze in place just on the edge of the gas. The rest of the Imperial platoon took notice, and all stopped firing once they realized their shooting was doing no good. She wondered just how powerful this man in grey really was, but then realized it once the fog shot away from the arena with one fell swoop.

Kirito stood alone from the fog with his eyes closed, and surrounded himself in a shield of frozen enemy lasers. He held his hands straight out in front of his body, and suddenly shot all the bullets back at their hosts as the Imperial unit suddenly took cover from the back lash of their own fire power. Sinon hid slightly lower than the rest of her allies as several large sniper bullets shot violently over her head, but not all Imperials were so fortunate as Kirito's surprise assault managed to kill a large fraction of the enemy host stalling inside the casino lobby.

The assault finally came crashing down as the force sensitive Kirito threw out the last of his reserved bullets suspended in air. He opened his eyes and wondered what all had happed while the fighting took place. Leafa and Agil both had their jaws scraping against the floor as they too wondered where all of this immense power came from. The Republic troopers, on the other hand, left no time for pondering as they fed off of Kirito's success, and quickly marched up the steps to subdue the remaining Imperial enemies.

They noticed none of the captured Imperials had a deadly sniper rifle with them, which only meant that some of the more important officers had managed to escape the defeat. Agil took a unit of troopers and advanced further inside the casino, while Kirito and Leafa scanned the battlefield for fallen enemies.

"Where's that sniper?!" Kirito demanded, but never received a straight answer as Leafa's eyes looked at with frozen white pupils.

"Kirito…" She asked with a shake in her voice. "Where did you get all that power?"

"Huh?" Kirito turned with anger, but suddenly calmed down once he looked at Leafa's trembling presence. "O-oh, I just channeled all the energy and anger inside me to collect their bullets."

"You…" She paused with a hint of fear on her voice. "Channeled your anger?"

 _*BUZZ!*_

Kirito cut their conversation short as he retrieved his small comms link to the Salamander and Klein. He turned it on and asked for some news. "Hey, Klein, you land that ship yet?"

"No…hey Kirito, there really isn't anywhere to land. The roof is full of cargo boxes and big ass crates."

"What?" Kirito acted surprised. "It should be clear for their transport. I thought they were waiting for a rescue ship.?"

"They are." Klein hesitated landing his prized beauty. "But maybe they weren't looking to land it on the roof of the casino."

Kirito tried to make sense of his logic, but then remembered where he came into the casino.

"Oh no…" He now realized why Lisbeth was down in the casino cellar. "They're not trying to blow up the bottom of the casino..."

Klein realized that all on his own as the top floor of the building below him suddenly erupted in a violent explosion of fire and metal. He flew the Salamander higher in the air to avoid taking damage, but found that his wind shield was still covered by metal, and the hull took severe damage as he took her in for a slightly safer landing than expected.

Had he not of been blinded by the explosion, Klein would have noticed the actual get away ship leaving the bottom of the building, with Lisbeth and Sinon securely on board along with any other surviving Imperials from the casino.

Kirito heard the explosion from the lobby and threw the comms link in anger as he smashed it into the ground. The display of rage further upset Leafa and left her backing away with fear and regret.

 _"I should have never let him try to learn the Force…I should have never let him come here!"_

* * *

 **New SAO episodes are said to come out in October. Looking forward o seeing those! Plus we have the final main film of the Star Wars Franchise this Christmas!**

 **New chapter as as soon as I can. Until then!**


	13. 12: The Ways of the Dark Side

**Author's Note: Number Twelve at last! Get to see some Sith action in this one. Sorry for the delay! I started up a new year of teaching recently and I've been veeeery busy. This chapter's a little short, but very sweet...well, more bitter actually. Enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own Sword Art Online or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Twelve - The Ways of the Dark Side

* * *

The Sith Lord known as Darth Rosario had finally made it to the lower levels of the Korriban wastes known as the Valley of the Dark Lords. This sprawling canyon of dirt and rock kept hidden some of the most sinister forces known to the galaxy, all concealed within the ancient spires, tombs, and sands of the Sith home planet.

Asuna's hood was up to avoid meeting the dusty air of the harsh valley floor. She stood with a force of several body guards, and a large transport ship equipped with a well-armed crew waiting on a fresh set of orders. She would also be joined on this dispatching mission by Darth Trentyn, a Sith Warrior who loved the idea of seeing the proud lady in battle more than he realized.

"Well, my Lady." He said with a sneer as he stepped off the ship. "Here's the old Sith Emperor's tomb. Reports say these acolytes have been manipulating the minds of some of our new recruits, and now they threaten everything we have here on Korriban with a possible uprising."

"Ambush." Asuna corrected him. "Uprising means the leaders were once with us. Whoever was in charge here before I arrived did not do a very good job at screening the new recruits. The faction borders on all the planets have had been plagued with bug reports since the game went full PvP. I wouldn't be surprised if Republic players managed to land here on their own."

"And will you be the one to correct their mistake?" Trentyn followed her as they neared the titan of a door and lowered into the long stairway that met the lower catacomb.

"The only way I could truly correct that person's mistake is if I had the chance of executing them." She could feel a battle ensuing on the inside of the tomb, but never reached for her sword handle as she approached the bottom of the stairs. "But I suppose the people inside will do just fine."

"You are the Wrath." Trentyn used his Force powers to grab a hanging torch from a wall sconce and held it high as he followed his superior officer down a dark, desolate corridor. However, although it appeared to be dead and forgotten, a door to a chamber ahead lit up with flashes of red lasers and screams.

The two leaders made it into the chamber, and came across swarms of Sith Warriors and young, rebellious acolytes battling one another in an open ballroom of sorts. Walls and old coffins were all reduced to rubble as lightsabers and blaster bolts shot back and forth between the two scattered sides. It was certainly hard to keep track of which ones were loyal servants of the Emperor, and which ones would find an early end to their experience inside the game of SWTORO.

Asuna and Trentyn powered on the three lightsabers between them and split to divide and conquer the inexperienced mutineers. The Empire's Wrath remembered having similar missions when she first entered this MMO, but it felt like ages since she beat the main story quest for her faction. She danced through swarms of violent yet horribly frightened Sith turn-coats and tried to locate the members of the group that start this whole mess. She knew these Sith were probably swayed into siding with these moles once they arrived on Korriban, but never questioned if any were suffering from a Jedi mind trick or Republic hypnosis. Traitors were traitors, and all whole took up arms against her Emperor would feel the end of her red lightsaber blade.

She spun nonchalantly to avoid an incoming stab attack from a rogue boy with two lightsabers. One was used to poke at Asuna, while the other one swiped at her weapon to catch her off guard. The experienced soldier shifted her stance, and let the boy pass as she heard him fall into the dirt behind her. She then swiped her lightsaber behind her legs to take his life before allowing him to stand, and continued scanning the room for the target she was sent here to dispatch. And then she heard them.

"Jun, stop running into battles without me!" Cried a white-haired rogue dressed in a costume fit for a true Sith acolyte.

Asuna's ears perked, but not in a way she expected.

"I sense something. A presence I've not felt since…"

"Well stop holding me back, Siune! We have to take as many out as we can while we have the chance!"

That did it. The two names were very similar for some reason. A black cloud formed inside her mind as Asuna tried holding back some unknown emotion with a twitch in her eye. The pain grew slightly worse, and anger soon followed as she finally laid eyes on the two planetary intruders.

The boy known as Jun finished stabbing an incoming Sith Warrior with one of his two red lightsabers. He too wore the trappings of the Sith, but did not fight or act like the wicked warriors of the dark side. His hair was red, as was his jump suit, but his eyes were lit up like a soldier of the Galactic Republic, that of a proud Jedi Knight.

"Looks like we have some more company." Jun raised his weapon as Asuna approached with a slow but domineering presence. She held her weapon low to her right side, and noticed the one called Siune standing behind her shorter friend in a stance for support. She was probably a consular, and the true master mind behind this invasion of sorts.

"Jun, do not jump into this fight so recklessly." Siune pleaded with a weary expression. She too felt some unknown force surrounding her as her faded memory from beyond the Old Republic game was trying to relocate her. Did she know this menacing Sith Lord? This girl with long brown hair did not look too evil, but she did hold anger in her eyes. Were they together in some game before this?

The vein in Asuna's forehead was small but still throbbing as she tried to channel her immense anger. "What are two Jedi doing on my planet? How did you even get here?"

Jun spat at her with his own bout of rage. "We didn't fly here, if that's what you're wondering!"

"A loud mouth." Asuna narrowed her vision in on the front man. "Your actions appear to be even louder than that."

"Jun." Siune raised her hand to summon a rather weak but growing forcefield. "This is no ordinary player. She's got the Empire's Wrath title by her name…she's a serious opponent."

"It doesn't matter, Siune!" Jun barked back, still holding his lightsabers high. "She's the one thing keeping our mission from progressing. If it all ends here, then what was the reason for risking everything in the first place!?"

"Perhaps I'll be the one to show you!" Asuna darted forward in the middle of his thought and jabbed up toward Jun's head. He knocked the attack away, and swung his sabers around to meet her waist, but the Sith Lord was too quick and deflected them back to their owner in a quick twirl with her sword. She normally played defensively to study a new opponent, but her anger ensured that she was too powerful for the boy to handle. Her swift flurry of attacks would be too much for him to keep up with, but none of that mattered as long as that support consular was helping him from behind.

Asuna met a cross chop from Jun, and swung right to try and take his arm, but the boy Jedi let her arm pass over his, and ducked to avoid the long length of her blade. He slid back up to his feet, and once again found himself coming up short as Asuna was right there waiting for him. He was thankful Siune was supporting him with stamina buffs, but how long would those hold as the other soldiers continued to fight around them.

Asuna used a flicker of doubt in his eye to lunge in and knock a light saber from his hands. She used a powerful Force kick and sent Jun into a nearby wall like a rocket as he smashed into the old stone with a shriek of pain. She then launched the boy's lightsaber like a throwing knife at the off-guard Siune, who let up her support spells to knock the saber away with her green blade.

"Hmm, a change of pace." That was the first ever lightsaber she ever saw on Korriban that was not red or purple. Now she really wanted to know how two rogue Republicans managed to make it through the Korriban defenses and into the Valley of the Dark Lords.

Asuna charged forward to confront the shocked Siune, ad as she drew closer, both girls started to recognize each other more and more. This recollection only frightened Siune, and left Asuna even angrier than before. She did not need these foreign emotions and memories clouding her mind during this battle. She decided to end the thoughts now and brought her saber up for a hard hammer motion, but as she went to release, a large boulder flew at her from behind.

Asuna never let her arm come down, and instead jumped high in the air to avoid the flying rock. She stuck her saber inside it as it flew under her feet, and tried guiding the piece of rubble toward Siune, but the still alert Jedi Master slashed at it with her green blade and waited for Jun to re-join her for the battle.

"Why do we know you?!" Jun decided to speak for everyone in the group as he yelled toward a now confused Asuna. Her eyes opened wide with his brash request, and the lump in her throat gave him more time to continue.

"I recognize you, but all my memories from outside TORO are cloudy. I can tell Siune feels the same way, along with you…that anger you're feeling. You're trying to remember who we are too."

Asuna's mouth was shut as she stood still, facing neither opponent, but kept her eyes looking at Jun through her peripheral vision.

"Your name… _Darth Rosario_ …it's familiar too."

"Yes. Yes it is." Siune felt like that had something to do with it as she lowered her green saber staff, and looked pleadingly toward the Dark Lord of the Sith. "Where did you come up with your user name?"

Asuna's eyes were looking at the ground now, and a fracture was slowly taking her heart with pain. Their voices, their names, their attitudes...that all seemed so familiar. Why did she name herself 'Darth Rosairo?' Why did they recognize it? Who were they, and for that matter…who was she outside the Old Republic Online?

"AGH!" Asuna sent ripples of dark energy out from her stance, and then used all the Force in her left arm to grab Jun by the throat. She launched him over her own head, and slammed her into Siune across the field, and then charged the fallen couple with her lightsaber in an all-out flurry of attacks. Siune could barely stand, but tried to use a support spell to selflessly help Jun to his feet.

While he now had some strength to stand, the tiny Jedi Warrior was no true match for the Dark Lord of the Sith. Asuna felt fire coming out of her eyes as she slammed her saber into the two of his with several blows of power and rage. Small tears through exhaustion and slight sadness crept out of her eyes, but never fell over her cheeks as she kept up her brutal assault blow after blow. Jun's arms were growing softer as he was being walked into an old column behind him. Just as his back hit the stone pillar, he took his right hand, and slashed Asuna with one of his stolen red lightsabers he earned at the beginning of his mission.

Asuna held up her left hand, and halted Jun's attack with the Force, and then thrusted her red blade into his open heart, piercing both his body and a portion of the pillar behind him. Jun's eyes lit up with pain and unknown anguish as Siune shrieked across the field in a fit of sadness.

Asuna drew the blade from his body, and let Jun fall to the floor in his death. The hovering name and status bars over his avatar suddenly disappeared, but his body laid lingering for a short while. Asuna lifted her left hand again, and grabbed the neck of the terrified Siune from the other side of the room. She pulled the girl closer, and then looked her in the eye as her neck was hovering just outside Asuna's clenched hand.

"How did you get on this planet?" She felt her eyes turning more and more yellow with each passing second, and although she needed Siune to answer, it would be rather hard to receive one while Asuna continuously choked her in midair.

Siune clawed at her own neck and tried to reason with her. "Darth… Rosario… I know that name… I… know… you!"

Asuna tried not to let that statement surprise her, but just then she heard two clapping hands from behind.

"Well, the Wrath is on full display!" Trentyn grinned with slight approval. "If I heard that right, does this Jedi know you, Asuna?"

"Asu-na!?" Siune choked on that word but got it to come out as she tried putting everything together. Her name was Darth Rosario, but this man just called her Asuna…Asuna…that name meant something for sure, it had to!

Siune turned one last time to look at Asuna, and as a small tear finally fell down her face, the dying Jedi continued.

"Asuna…you and I... we're friends, aren't we?"

Asuna was done. She pulled her fingers together and crushed the neck of her enemy once and for all with a single motion. The lifeless body of Siune fell to the ground and formed a cloud of dust as the Dark Lady grabbed the fallen handle of the Jedi Consular from the floor.

"A trophy?" Trentyn cocked an eyebrow. "I didn't take you to be the sentimental type."

Asuna looked at the empty handle, and then chopped the top half off with her lightsaber. She tossed the broken shards back to the ground and turned for the door.

"Have your men clean up this mess. Send all the lightsabers to the forge."

"I will admit, while I didn't see your entire fight, you do put the wrath in Empire's Wrath. Maybe Emperor Lusac wasn't too bold to name you to his side after all."

"Glad to hear your thoughts on the matter." She replied while walking toward the corridor. "Perhaps you can even tell him during our meeting."

"Wha-?" Trentyn's jaw dropped suddenly. "The Emperor's coming here?!"

"Not exactly." Asuna wanted to smirk at his new-found fear. "He'll join us through a holo-transmission. He wishes to personally debrief Lisbeth and the others when they return from their failed mission."

"And you didn't tell me because…?" Trentyn lingered on that request with a hiss of anger coming from his voice.

Asuna stopped and turned to address her inferior. "I suppose it's the same reason you failed to tell Lusac you were coming here in the first place. Now you can show him that you skipped your mission on Tatooine to see me in battle. He'll probably be furious, though there is a chance he won't blame you if you say it like that."

The angry Sith officer followed after her with continued anger. "Then it should be made clear that I just arrived to Korriban at your request. He doesn't need to know anything about this. We'll keep it between you and me, and I'll take part in your little discussion."

"I hope so, for your sake, My Lord." Asuna's reply was filled with pride as she crossed through the dark doorway of the chamber. "The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am...and never call me 'Asuna' ever again."

* * *

 **A little call-out to the Mother's Rosario arc, and an addition of two key characters from Asuna's past in the anime. I wanted to have some grand display of her power before I had her enter the true story, and using her to kill real friends from the real world seemed very appropriate (it also shows us how ruthless she's become, and it shows us how strong the brain control element is for the Sith, and memory wipe system is for the Jedi.)**

 **You'll also notice Asuna making all sorts of dialogue references to a very specific character from Star Wars. I may have mentioned this fact already in a past A/N, but here's more!**

 **Also, to be firmly clear, whenever I say Asuna's "curved-lightsaber", it's not actually a curved sword. It's literally just supposed to be like Count Dooku's sword in the prequels. Just the handle is curved.**

 **Until next time!**


	14. 13: A Great Asset

**Author's Note: Chapter 13 here on an early Tuesday morning. I hope every had a wonderful Labor Day for my US audience members. We return to find a parallel story being told for both Kirito and Asuna now, as our proverbial Luke and Vader turn this tale into their own.**

 **Please enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own Sword Art Online or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen - A Great Asset

* * *

"Kirito, it's all over! The fight is done!"

Klein held up his hands in a concerned manner as he watched Kirito slash a pillar in the casino lobby repeatedly with his lightsabers as the grey Force wielder released his rage. It was already decorated with many slash marks from the duel purple blades, but Klein would not be enough to stop the swordsman in his anger.

He did not seem to care about losing the battle for some made-up Republic. He was mad, however, at the fact that he let two of his friends slip to the Dark Side and then let them get away without talking to them. Klein, Leafa, Agil, they all had their memories wiped, but it appeared that Sinon and Lisbeth were much worse in the hands of the Sith Empire. They appeared to be evil, or playing some very convincing bad guys in a made-up inter-galactic conflict.

Agil stood by the door as his men finished escorting the last of the Imperial survivors, and just then an informant to the Republic's central command joined him.

"Quite the mess you guys made here." A smuggler with a brown and tan cloak leaned on the frame opposite of Agil. Her auburn hair was covered up by a hood on her cloak, but several red markings were still visible on her cheeks. "Though, I hear it was all for nothing."

Agil sighed as he looked to the angry Kirito off in the distance. "Yea, that's stating the obvious, Argo."

Argo the Smuggler looked around to try and find a high-ranking officer among the captive Imperials. "I take it you let the big names get away? Did they make it out with the leader's codes?"

"Apparently Not." Agil closed his eyes, and kept his arms crossed. "All that research on player warp commands still safe and sound. We did hear some of our guys slipped up on Korriban, so now they might have access to the technology anyway. The Empire will have a hell of a time trying to decode it all, though."

"Is that so." Argo pulled open her menu to look over some very important PMs. "Well they say that group of Jedi stationed on Korriban just took a big loss too...all dead."

"I imagine." Agil's lifeless face was now a single reflection of his Jedi philosophy. "Amun-Din is a brilliant coder, but that Emperor is pretty crafty. I'm surprised he needed her coding to figure it out for himself."

"Well, people do have different strengths…" She then looked over to the side to find a very distraught Leafa sitting along on a broken pillar. "Is that the Jedi Master of Tython? What the hell is she doing here? And why is she all pouty?"

"Hmm? Leafa?" Agil cracked one of his eyes open. "She's just a little distracted from something that happened in the battle. It all has to do with that man there." He gestured to the very angry Kirito venting over the scarred pillar.

Argo turned with two alert eyes. "Oh yea, the grey boy! I hear he has some weird faction." She started taking notes. "What's his deal?"

"He says he knows all of us." Agil shook his head. "Pretty weird stuff. Probably recognize you too if he sees you. He just had some weird explosion of anger during the fight, though. Sort of sent us all a message without saying anything."

"Hmm…" Argo continued writing down what she could. "You Jedi do like to blow things out of proportion…still, this thing where he acts like he knows us all. I wish my memory of the outside world wasn't so fuzzy."

"Mine too." Agil sat up and turned to leave the casino. "Anyway, I'll have my group meet Master Amun-din at the Senate. I'm sure we'll meet again after some other broken battle."

"Yea, unless its halfway across the galaxy. I like the Republic, but not that much." She put away her menu and turned to leave as well. "Until next time!"

Klein noticed people were starting to leave and tried to get Kirito's attention. "Hey buddy, its time ta go! We gotta debrief with the Boss. You can try tellin' her all about it when you get the chance."

"Agh…" Kirito was breathing heavily. He finally stopped his relentless attacking and stood tall. "Fine…just get Leafa and let's head over…"

"No way in hell man!" Klein put his foot down. "That chick probably won't even step foot within 50 yards of ya now! Plus, it looks like she left with Agil."

Kirito tried to shake away the cloud that was fogging his mind and realized everything he was doing was probably not helping his situation with his oblivious cousin. He remembered her terrified expression after the battle, but made no attempt to reconcile her fear.

He sheathed his blades and turned to follow the upset Klein out of the casino, and together they made way for the Galactic Senate building. The great domed structure sat as a gem in the heart of Coruscant's Galactic City. It was the heart of the planet and the Republic both and stood hundreds of feet over even the highest of the skyline's points. Clouds from above grazed its domed forehead, and a large bridge with a private hanger entrance stretched an arm out from one of the main entrances.

Klein made sure to park away from Agil's troop transport, but they finally reunited as the entire assault party stepped inside the spacious lobby of the senate building.

Kirito scanned the group and located Leafa standing at the back of Agil's task force. Her head was hanging low, and Recon held out a hand that rested on her shoulder. Kirito felt like a fool for behaving the way he did, but it was only a matter a time for all his bottled-up frustration to burst through.

"I need to talk to her." Kirito whispered to Klein as he looked over at the weary Leafa. "I need to let her know what I'm feeling."

"Yea? Well, all you have to do is look at her to see how she is feeling." Klein replied back. "That's not the face of someone who wants to talk things over with her battle-crazed fake cousin."

"Real cousin—AGH!" Kirito wanted to pull his hair out, but those thoughts quelled as a distracting entrance of senators and Republic officials emerged from great big bay doors. An entourage of the Galaxy's biggest commanders stepped off the elevator platform, but all surrounded the recently arrived commander-in-chief of the Republic forces.

Jedi Master Amun-din was the leader and high general of the Galactic Republic. She was also a high-ranking Game Master for the Old Republic Online and hid her real-world identity from the rest of her teammates. She wore an extraordinary cloak of white and green cloth and white steel plates of armor, and at her hip was a very ornate saber staff handle that stuck out lower than a shorter, one-handed blade.

Amun-din's entrance prompted Agil, Leafa, and the other Jedi to bow their heads, and the commandos and Republic soldiers to salute. Klein and Kirito stood out like sore thumbs as the former scratched his head, and the latter narrowed his vision.

"Man, that chick is the Boss? Heh, first time meetin' her for me!" Klein patted Kirito on the shoulder to try and lighten the mood, but the black swordsman kept his wits about him as he let the leader greet her companions.

"Master Agil. Glad to see you're alive and well."

"Agreed." Agil nodded. "Glad to inform you that the Sith Empire were stopped before they got the codes. They did escape though, and Argo let me know that the plans were already taken by a failed mission to Korriban."

"All is fine." She gave him her sympathy. "We have the technology still, and can continue to use it to our advantage. It will be quite some time before the Empire figures it out. Perhaps we'll be masters of planetary warp once that happens."

She then happened to turn past Agil's right shoulder to see two higher officials from Tython present in the group as well. Instantly, she showed her displeasure. "Master Leafa. You seem to have left your post on Tython."

"Ahehe…" Leafa's day was going from bad to worse. "I have, yes. It's been a while. I guess ever since I left for that moon assault."

Amun-din nodded. "And I decided to leave you on Tython for that very same blunder. I hope you weren't present for the casino attack. It would be awfully suspicious if you were…"

"Just leave her alone, would ya?"

The entire lobby of the Senate building all turned their heads the other way at a lone boy in grey trappings, who appeared to be mouthing off to the highest-ranking officer in the Galactic Republic. Leafa's eyes lit up like two moons, and Klein slowly stepped away from the trouble child as the great Jedi Master turned her head.

As she turned, however, a great gasp took her throat. She lost all focus and realized just who she was talking to.

Kirito felt very similar. "I know you. You're the daughter of Peter Mathis. The head story writer for the game…Amanda Mathis."

Amanda had done a very good job at concealing her identity until now. Reluctantly controlling an army of brainwashed Republicans is easier if you fail to tell them of your real-world workings. Sadly, her position was now jeopardized as Klein stepped forward.

"No shit! Hey maybe she's the reason we all lost our minds!"

Amanda turned fully to confront Kirito, and kept her eyes focused on his. "Kazuto Kirigaya…my father's experiment. You made it off Mortis I see."

"Mortis?" Klein and Leafa both muttered that word to themselves, while the former spoke again. "You mean she knows about that weird voodoo planet Kirito was talking about when I met him?"

Kirito nodded. "No help to anyone here. Though, I can't blame any of my friends. I guess you and your father are playing with all of us as your own personal toys. Thank god I have experience with situations like this." He stepped forward and got right in her face as the crowd backed away.

"Actually, that's not so good for you or your father…is it?"

Amanda stood her ground. "It is, and my father and I do not share similar motives. He was the one that tricked you and your friends. I only found out about it after you all got trapped in here."

Kirito listened as he noticed her voice change from a statement to a whisper. She tried to reason with him, but the dark Jedi backed away with further concern. "Why the hell should I listen to you? Why should I even bother fighting for you or your damn father? He's probably the Emperor you all keep going on about! This is even worse than SAO! A whole family of crooks trapping gamers into a title series like Star Wars!"

"I'm not lying!" She pleaded with him. "You have to trust me! I'm trying to get everyone out of this game safely! Slowly, carefully, and safely."

"Isn't that what you want me to hear? Isn't that what you want EVERYONE TO HEAR!?"

A shock wave left his voice as a small trace of the Force grazed the faces of everyone in the room. Amun-din shook for a brief moment and realized what her father had truly created.

"Dear god…he does want you over us."

"I want to talk with your father, Amanda." Kirito's words were fierce. "I want answers, and I want them now."

"He's not here, Kirito." Said a man's voice from Amanda's entourage. "But maybe I can help?"

Kirito thought he was done acting shocked and surprised, but he proved himself wrong as yet another familiar person greeted him inside the Stars Wars Galaxy. The only difference was this person spoke his name with confidence and comfort, and still seemed to be holding onto his own mind.

"And might I say, I'm glad I finally found you."

"Kikuoka…" Kirito sighed with angst as he recognized the sharp voice of the Ministry of Defense's expert agent—Kikuoka Seijirou. "This just keeps getting better and better."

* * *

Asuna sat at the end of a very large, dark table inside the Acadamy's largest meeting hall. Trentyn sat to her left, and the recently arrived Lisbeth sat to her right. Sinon and the other agent of the Emperor waited in the room as well, but all was quiet as the party waited for the message of their master.

And it soon arrived. A large hologram took the center of the table and prompted the entire meeting party to stand and bow. Asuna and Trentyn went even further and knelt at the foot of their seats while the man on the other side made no move to signal them. He was surrounded by a whole host of holographic faces, all of which made up his Dark Council of the Sith Empire.

"Before we begin...there's something I need to address." The Dark Council chamber was built as a large, circular hall in the center of the palace at Dromund Kaas. Asuna and the others could not see it, but their recollection of the bottomless pit standing in the center of the floor was all they needed in their imagination as they waited for the Emperor to make his move.

"Valkyn." Darth Lusac spoke out to one of the end chairs of the council. All of the seats sat at the near edge of the pit, but the main throne was a few feet back to give the Emperor an extra feeling of comfort.

Lusac spoke further as a fearful red-haired man sat forward trying to gather what would happen next. "As my representative of Korriban on this council, I feel the blame rests solely on your shoulders for letting Jedi into my academy."

The Emperor took no words from Valkyn or the other councilmen as he simply raised his hand, then tossed it downward, sending Darth Valkyn out of his chair and plummeting to his death in the center of the council chambers. The team at Korriban stood in discomfort and fear, but Asuna was only worried that one of her better underlings would be forced to take his place.

Lusac knew that the leadership on Korriban was growing weaker, which is why he sent his greatest soldier to root out the incompetence. "My Academy nearly taken out from under me, all saved by my noble apprentice. It's a good thing you were there on my recent orders, Lady Rose. I'm thankful for the response you delivered to those traitors."

Asuna stood with Trentyn as they received a signal from their liege to rise, but the Sith Lord's holographic eyes kept firm on Trentyn. "Meanwhile, my other Lieutenant of the Dark Side was to be stationed on Tatooine, yet here you stand."

"My Lord." Trentyn spoke with confidence to his real-world best friend. "I heard about the tomb assault on my way to my station, and received a message from Lady Rose to…"

 _*SLAM*_

Emperor Lusac lowered a hand gently, but sent Trentyn violently back to his knees in a cloud of dark energy. The Dark Lordling winced as his liege kept him under his control, and waited for a verbal sentence to be made.

"What if the same thing happened on Tatooine? Those idiots there are trying to make some fake faction with the NPC Hutts. What if I happen to lose another valuable task force? Ignorance will not be tolerated, and you will not stand without my permission!"

That last bit had hate written all over it as the pressure on Trentyn's body grew bigger, but just then it lifted.

"Rise." Lusac turned away from the Sith and gave his focus to Lisbeth. "Bounty Hunter. Where are my plans?"

Lisbeth chose a silent, more visual response and held up a coded disc for her Emperor to see. She placed it on the table, and allowed the glowing sensors on the face of the table screen to lock on to her disc. "It's sending the information to you now. We failed to get the right code on Coruscant, but we did figure out that those Jedi Asuna killed happened to use the same technology to zip undetected onto Korriban."

"Excellent." Lusac seemed mildly pleased. "It sounds like the mission ended with moderate success."

"I suppose." Lisbeth looked like she was carrying weight of her own and turned to look at a now confused Asuna. She chose not to tell her commanding officer about the battle's details, but now felt like it would be wise to speak.

"Except the Jedi had some freaky new friend. I barely fought him, but…eh, Sinon can tell you more."

Lusac's pleasure shifted to an alert concern as he turned his gaze to a still frustrated Sinon. She was not showing fear in the face of her Emperor, just anger at herself for letting him get away.

"Some boy in all grey…he was helping the Jedi, but he wasn't a Jedi himself."

Lusac's eyes widened, and Asuna took this as a sign that the Emperor knew more than he was letting on.

Sinon continued. "He stopped all the bullets on our side from shooting and sent them back to us in a single frenzy. I…none of us had ever seen power like that, but it was weird since he…"

"What?" Lusac was growing impatient as he leaned toward Sinon. "What did he have?"

Sinon raised an eyebrow at Lusac's very specific concern. "He didn't have…a faction."

"He didn't have…a…faction." Lusac was going mad as he stood in holographic form muttering under his breath. Trentyn was having none of it and spoke up after massaging his shoulders.

"It appears your sister found him first. So much for not killing him on Mortis."

"AGH!" A powerful shockwave passed through the hologram and stunned all the attendees of the meeting room on Korriban. Asuna and the others writhed in pain as the lightning passed through their bones and kept them on the ground until their leader's angry fit was cleared.

Lusac let up on his power but continued breathing heavily. "That boy, he cannot be allowed to live. I've sensed a great disturbance with him the moment he logged onto my father's game. We have a new enemy, even greater than the Republic or my sister."

Lusac stood tall and clutched his fist while continuing the order. "That boy is an envoy of my father, and he is most dangerous. He goes by the username Kirito…and he must be eliminated."

Asuna let out a loud gasp once that name hit her ears. The entire room turned, but Lusac showed no worry at her reaction while she tried to collect herself.

Trentyn kept an eye on Asuna, but turned back to his friend. "Kirito, my Lord? We must find this rogue player once and for all?"

"We will, with our own tasks." Lusac commanded. "On my final order, you will get your damned fleet on Tatooine and command our outposts there. I will send a new figure head to Korriban to preside over the Academy, and the Empire's Wrath will take our supreme garrison to the planet Alderaan."

Asuna's ears perked once she heard that she would be taking full command of the Empire's prized garrison fleet. She also knew Alderaan was a valuable Republic planet with an already present Imperial foot hold. If she took this massive force with her to crush the Republic, they would work a smooth path toward the Core worlds and take out Coruscant once and for all.

However, something about all this did not feel right. The Emperor brought up the news of this boy, this Kirito. Her skin felt a chill when she spoke that name in her head again. What did he and Alderaan have to do with each other? Could the Emperor predict moves that early?

She spoke aloud. "My Lord, are you saying this…Kirito…will he be on Alderaan."

"Yes." Lusac replied firmly. "I am sure of it. Now that my sister, Amanda has her new weapon, she'll try sending the boy to the weakest point in the Republic. If she secures Alderaan, the war turns around in favor of the Jedi."

He then raised his voice to alert the entire room. "Leave us. I must speak with the Wrath, alone."

Trentyn hated hearing that, but followed Lisbeth, Sinon, and the other Imperial officers out of the room as Asuna lowered to the ground in an obedient kneel.

Her head lowered as well, and let her master continue with his speech. "What is thy bidding, My Master?"

"There is a great disturbance in the Force."

"I think I've felt it too." Asuna replied, referring to her feelings at the sound of Kirito's name.

Lusac continued. "The Republic is no longer your concern. Your new target is Kazuto Kirigaya. The boy Kirito must not be allowed to live."

"He's just one player, sir." Asuna was still reeling over hearing Kirito's full name. "Your sister cannot help him if he shows that much hatred for the Jedi. Sinon said it, herself."

"He could destroy us." Lusac reaffirmed her. "The Force is strong with him, even stronger than what's inside of me…Your former husband, Asuna Yuuki, must not become a Jedi."

Asuna's eyes were closed, but they shot open as she looked to the floor with a bout of heartbreak deep inside. Lusac was so confident with his influence over her mind, he apparently felt bold enough to call the boy Kirito by that title, even if it was just an in-game marriage.

He was partially right to act so confident. Asuna knew nothing about this boy claiming to be her husband. She knew she was only seventeen. What did any of it mean? There was only one thing she knew though; he could not die before she had the chance to talk with him.

"If…he could be turned." Asuna left her head down, and her mischievous thoughts concealed from her master. "He could become a powerful ally."

The Emperor did not share the same optimism. "How so?! He will be my sister's weapon against me!"

Asuna raised her head and looked into the eyes of her holographic master. "Yes, so now is the chance for you to turn him into the weapon against her."

Lusac looked up and let a crazed thought snap into his mind. "Yes…yes, now that you say it…he would be a great asset to our cause. Can it be done?"

Asuna lowered her head in a slight form of obedience. "He will join us or die…by my hand."

Lusac reaffirmed her. "He will join us, or die, by your hand. In time, he could even become your very own apprentice."

"Not likely." Asuna argued. "If his power is so immense, then it seems only fitting to let you take him under your command."

"And what of you?" Lusac spat back. "I cannot have two apprentices!"

Asuna let him hold a sinister smirk, and replied. "Forgive me, but I am confident that he will benefit more from your knowledge than I can now. You gave me this command, and all my power. It's time for you to train a worthy apprentice."

Lusac chuckled, but soon let it turn into a dark laugh. "You are modest, my dear Lady Rose. We will discuss the details once you have acquired your new target. I'll leave it to you."

"It will be done, my Lord." Asuna said with a firm confirmation as she set her new sights on this Kazuto Kirigaya. "It will be done."

* * *

 **So we not only get the true plot underway for our two SAO protagonists, we are also introduced the (lovely?) children of Peter Mathis. Amun-din and Lusac (Or Amanda and Lucas. Bonus points for you if you can guess where the idea for their real-world names came from!)**

 **So is Kirito going to be our hero as usual, or will his foil, Darth Rosario, surprise us all?**

 **Until next time!**


	15. 14: Alderaan's Only Hope

**Author's Note: Here's number 14! I wanted to get it out there quickly because it's rather short and sweet. But, it is very important! Next one though...one of my longest!**

 **Also, I do not own Sword art Online or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen - Alderaan's Only Hope

* * *

Kirito had no idea why he agreed to jump on the next ship for the Republic planet of Alderaan. Seeing Seijirou Kikuoka with the Republic elite was one thing, but the fact that he was the first and currently the only one of his former acquaintances that kept their memory left him feeling very suspicious.

Very suspicious.

 _~Back at the Galactic Senate~_

 _"HA!" Kikuoka slammed his hands down on a conference table within the Galactic Senate building as he, Kazuto, and the others all convened after the grey Jedi's obnoxious outburst in the main hall. "I thought I'd never find you! Talk about finding a needle in a haystack!"_

 _"Well, it's a little suspicious if you ask me…" Kirito kept his arms crossed as he, Seijirou, and Master Amun-din were the only party members actually sitting at the table. Agil and the other Jedi stood around behind Amun-din, while Klein and the droid Yui stayed by the window, with Klein trying to focus on anything outside that he could in order to not speak out._

 _Kirito looked his old business partner in the eye. "For starters, why do you have your memory?"_

 _Kikuoka raised the legs of his Star Wars Chrysheight avatar and placed them on the table, trying to keep a smug expression plastered to his face. "Because. I didn't use a Holocron."_

 _"What?" Kirito shifted in his seat. "You're not in the Force System?"_

 _"Nope." Chrysheight boasted loudly. "I'm grabbed a regular reviewer's copy per the request of my office, and I was undercover as a game reviewer…until this one here discovered my true intentions."_

 _Amanda nodded, and reached out to continually ensure Kirito of her good intentions. "I was weary of letting him join my elite group. He was asking all these odd questions about the Force System, my father, and the disappearances of you and your friends."_

 _"Okay." Kirito shrugged. "So, what's it like back in the real world?"_

 _Seijirou explained. "Immortal Gamming is covering for Mathis, and somehow they're managing to do a damn good job at it. All you volunteers signed pretty convincing wavers, though I guess it has only been a week since this all started."_

 _"WHAT!?" Kirito did mean to use his spring break for testing the Holocron for Mathis, but never actually expected this whole experience to fit in the time span of only six or seven days._

 _Chrysheight agreed. "I know, I was as surprised as you were once I met up with the others. I've only met your friends who are with the Republic. Your cousin, Agil and Recon. Klein and the girl Silica are smugglers. Shino Asada and the Lisbeth girl as you know were taken by Luke Mathis. He has them working for the Empire."_

 _"And Asuna?" Kirito leaned forward with anticipation._

 _Seijirou shook his head. "No leads. We've only heard that…"_

 _"No rumors." Kirito stopped him there. "I only want proof. I want Asuna, and I want you to get me out of here."_

 _"Ahehe…i-it's not that easy, buddy!" Seijirou used his likable mood to sway the young swordsman back to reality. "I mean your bodies are all contractually protected by Immortal Gaming, and even then, we have no idea what part of their headquarters your located in. Not to mention you've all been paid. Immortal had you all give them deposit slips as part-time employees. Amanda, Luke, they were all in the game before the official launch, so even they know nothing."_

 _Amanda nodded. "But I do know if my brother or I win this war, my father will give his company to the victor. If I win I can get all of you out of here, refund your experience…I'd even testify against the two of them if I had to."_

 _"And why would you be let off the hook?" Klein yelled over, now wanting to be a part of his own conversation. "Look, Kirito sounds like he's my buddy, and this Chrysheight guy says we do really know each other IRL. Now he's even calling Leafa Kirito's real cousin! If we really are trapped in here, then I think your whole family should be payin' the price!"_

 _Leafa held her arms together in discomfort with all this heavy discussion. Recon and Agil sat idly by as well, but the latter finally through in his two sense._

 _"Should you tell them the real situation, Amanda?"_

 _The sorry Jedi Master nodded and waited for Chrysheight to give her the true 'okay.' She then explained. "My brother and I were thrown into a competition that I wanted no part of. Yes, we've had a sibling rivalry under my father's watch, but it was never that grand. That being said, he trapped his own two children in his new game and promised the first one out a new company."_

 _"That's insane." Kirito admitted. "He had to know he'd be arrested once it all ended."_

 _"I suppose…he'd probably take his own life. He's pushing his age, and since our mother passed away, he has been quite an empty person. My brother certainly hasn't helped the situation. He worked with my father, behind my back! He worked to orchestrate this whole competition without my knowledge, and he…he implemented…"_

 _"What?" Kirito hated all the pausing. "Just spit it out!"_

 _Amanda took a deep breath and sighed before revealing her knowledge. "He implemented the mind control bug and intended for me and him to control the players on our sides like mindless employees…like pawns."_

 _Seijirou was not fully satisfied with her lite explanation. "Luke Mathis found a way to nearly perfect the mind control technology made by RECT and Noboyuki Sugo. He's used the technology as a hostage system surrounding the users of the Holocrons. It's supposed to simulate the real feeling of the Light and Dark sides of the Force. And if their avatars die…then they're placed in a void zone without logging out. Or at least that's what we were threatened with."_

 _Silence filled the room, and Kirito leaned far back in his chair and placed his hands on his face. "So, this Mathis guy thinks he can just copy Kayaba and Sugo all in one game?"_

 _Seijirou admittedly laughed. "It's rather amusing if you put it like that."_

 _Kirito was dead serious. "It sounds like it's the truth. Mathis is just another tired old man using gamers to his advantage, and he's gonna save his legacy by giving away his company to the kid who saves all our lives. He thought we'd all have wiped minds. We wouldn't remember any of it, and the sibling who won would be deemed the hero and be granted an immunity from the press while he passed away."_

 _He then stood up and backed his chair away from the table. "So…why did he not feel the need to brain wash me?"_

 _Amanda spoke quickly. "He believed in you…or what you did to the other companies before his. He believed in your passion and your love for the virtual world, and thought you would far better than…well, then his failing children. The crazy Lucas, and the Timid Amanda."_

 _"I see…" Kirito felt mad at the old man even more now. "That's why he never gave either one of you the company. He was forcing you into the fight."_

 _Amanda let a tear form under her eye. "Luke has always shown more promise, and he would make the better CEO. But father always felt that I showed more compassion. He felt I would make a better Game Maker. I guess…he didn't want to break either one of our hearts."_

 _"But he did." Kirito turned for the door. "Which is why he trapped you in a death game with the rest of us. Only you guys wouldn't have your minds wiped, and you'd have to live with it all once he passed away."_

 _Kirito snapped for Yui and ignored the rest of the room as Klein followed after. The grey knight carried on. "But you're only wasting my time here. Let's get to Alderaan and end this before I grow any angrier."_

 _~Now aboard a brand-new star ship flying toward Alderaan~_

Kirito sat alone in his own bed chamber while the rest of the small smuggling star ship flew through the galaxy. Klein was probably waiting in the cockpit with the new pilot since the general told them not to let him fly. Yui was probably helping them navigate through the war invested hyper lanes, while Recon and Leafa were each in their own chambers.

He was trying to focus in on it all. Seijirou, Amanda, Lucas, Mathis, Sugu…Asuna. His brain only hurt more every time she came to mind. He tried falling asleep, but never found luck as the anger building up only kept him more awake.

Then the doors to his bedroom opened, revealing a long-faced cousin with a blonde ponytail, and more athletic cloths ready for a fight on Alderaan.

"Kirito…"

"Kazuto." He replied while still sitting in a ball on the floor. "Y-You always call me Kazuto. That's my name IRL."

"Kazuto…cousin Kazuto."

"Sometimes you call me big brother…i-it's an even longer story."

"Stop making it creepy then." Leafa sighed and sat down across from her cousin. "So, you were right. My mind has been erased, and our friends on the Empire have it even worse with mind control. Ugh it's so frustrating that I don't know any of you!"

"I agree." He gave her a smile. "I mean, Klein can be a little annoying, and you are a hard person to live with."

She smacked him on the arm, but gave him a soft smile, seeing as his smile back was the first one that she had seen on his face since leaving Tython. She then grabbed his hands.

"Hey, let me show you a neat Jedi trick. I-I noticed you went a little crazy back there on Coruscant, so I'm worried you'll build up too much negative energy once we head into the big fight."

"R-Right…" He placed a hand behind his head. "Sorry about that. Show me what you have in mind."

Leafa took his hands again and shut her eyes. "Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and listen carefully to everything I say."

Leafa and Kirito took simultaneous breaths and held hands a a soothing energy surrounded their bodies. "The Force is a powerful energy in this game. It can control your actions and emotions. You need to calm your mind during a fight and try to control it instead."

"Sure…" Kirito mumbled. "The only things that it really gives you the power to control are rocks and twigs."

Leafa smacked his hands and let him react in pain before starting over. Their eyes remained shut, and their hands connected again. "The Force is not a power you have. It's not just about lifting rocks. The force binds everything together. You can control it, but you have to be calm…and collected."

She tried to channel some of her own feelings through their hands. "Breath. Just breath. Reach out with your feelings."

An ominous silence filled the room as Leafa let her new protégé collect his inner thoughts. Kirito was unknowingly appreciating every second of his meditation as he did just what she asked and reached out to collect a new wave of thoughts.

Leafa whispered like an eager young teacher. "What do you see?"

Kirito quietly obliged her. "I see my friends. You and the others. We're all at Agil's café back home."

Leafa tried to hold in a chuckle while she tried picturing Jedi Master Agil owning a café of all things. She assumed her mindful cousin knew what he was saying and let him continue.

"Klein, Lis, they're all there. We're all enjoying a party. Silica…Sinon…your friend Recon is there too."

Leafa did not like the way he said that as the feeling in his hand suddenly changed, and a soft smile took his face.

"And Asuna…I can see her again."

His heart was silently fluttering, and Leafa could feel that in the palms of his hands. Her face lit up with a red flush, she could tell this Asuna girl meant a great deal to Kirito. His hands grew warmer with every thought.

"I miss her…I miss all of it. I'm tired of losing you all…I just want to stay in the real world for once and enjoy a normal life. With Asuna...with all of you."

The lights suddenly flickered, and Leafa could feel Kirito' hands turning colder and colder as a small tremor flew through her arms. A chill ran down her spine, and a small, forceful gust nudged her back, and woke her from her trance as a breath got stuck in her throat.

"Kazu…to?" She felt that malevolent force building up around Kirito again, and tried leaning back. Kirito realized what had happened and reached out to give her a hug.

"Sugu…I'm sorry if I'm scaring you. It's just hard for me to get all these thoughts under control."

Leafa felt his sincerity and rubbed her hands against his back. "It's okay. I think I understand…hey, uh, Kazuto?"

"What?" He noticed her start to shake, and he could feel her chest growing warmer against his. "What is it?"

"I…" She struggled to control her own thoughts. "Who is this Asuna person?"

"Asuna?" Kirito felt sorry to hear her say it like this. "She's our friend in the real world. She's a really great person."

"Is she?" The red against Leafa's face never went away. "But…i-is she more than that? To you?"

"I, I don't really know what you're asking?" Kirito flatly replied.

Leafa hated playing the role of a Jedi sometime. Sometimes the playful roles of forbidden Sith feelings intrigued her more, especially when she found herself alone with the mysterious Kirito. Was he really her cousin? She felt a close bond between the two of them, but wanted to admit something more than just that.

It would have to wait as the star ship's sirens and red flashing lights powered on. Kirito and Leafa separated quickly and shot to their feet as they ran through the door and into the main chamber. They stumbled to try and stay on their feet and managed to run into Recon doing the same thing. The three of them went to find the pilots in the hanger, but came to only find Klein sitting as co-captain and Yui managing an emergency panel.

As the ship emerged from hyperspace, it appeared that they came across a deadly space naval battle between the Republic auxiliary forces, and a Sith blockade surrounding the atmosphere of Alderaan.

"Where did Silica go?" Leafa asked with a panicked voice. "She didn't leave you in charge, did she?!"

"Rude!" Klein was the best pilot in the Republic, or at least told himself that much as he tried steering past a Sith Dreadnaught.

All was made okay as a tiny mechanic with a yellow and white tunic emerged from the back door, with a head framed at the top by two pig tails and a pair of mechanic's goggles strapped over her head. "Sorry! I had to check on the hyper drive. Looks like it will need to be repaired before we plan on leaving the battle."

"Who cares!" Klein yelled as he powered on forward guns to combat Sith star fighters blasting their way. "We won't get a chance to repair the damn thing if we crash over Alderaan!"

"He's right!" Yui scrambled the numbers. "The odds of making it through the full Imperial blockade now are 2,218 to…!"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP, ALREADY!?" Klein yelled angrily over to the little T-7 unit. "God it's odds everything with you! Kirito! Get your damn robot out of the cockpit before I load her into the canons!"

Yui turned from the portal control, and zapped Klein with her electrical prod. Kirito stood between them as he leaned over the seat of an old friend. "Okay, Silica, do we at least have our shields?"

"Yea…they're holding out just fine." Klein's Salamander was the fastest ship in the sector, but Silica's special dragon-class ship Pina had its own little quirk to make it a staple in the Republic's navy.

"The cloaking device is up and running now too. We should be under the radar…NOW!"

The Pina's cloaking technologies powered on, and soon the small air craft zipped by the rest of the Imperial frigates, and even past the Republic's defenses as it shot safely toward the surface of Alderaan and on to their target destination.

"Thank god…" Klein leaned back like an overweight uncle right after Thanksgiving dinner. He put a comforting hand on Yui and gave her a good pat. "Sorry for the outburst little Yui."

"Hmph!" The small droid turned the other way in a comedic pout, and Kirito and the girls forced a laugh as the ship made its way through the atmosphere of Alderaan.

"Alright Amun-din. I win you a planet, and you get me and my friends out of here."

* * *

 **So no point-of-view from the Empire this chapter. Kirito and the others are heading to help the crowd on Alderaan. Plus, now we've found Silica! Not to mention that Seijirou Kikuoka was there to lay some of the expository stuff still missing up to this point. If I had to pick a favorite character in SAO, he'd probably be it.**

 **New chapter tomorrow, and with that one, we're goin' to war!**

 **Until Then!**


	16. 15: Dog Fight In The Jungle

**Author's Note: Oh boy! Here's a long one for ya!**

 **Some more fun nods to the films in this one. Again, I'm not trying to steal the ideas or dialogue, they're just fun little cheeky Easter eggs!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen - Dogfight in the Jungle

* * *

"Welcome to Alderaan, My Lady."

Asuna stood at the helm of her capital command ship for the Imperial Navy—The Mother's Rosario. That name led her to her distinct username, but she had no idea where it originated from. The grand war dreadnaught of the Imperial's reserve garrison led a brand-new star fleet from Korriban into the atmosphere of Alderaan, which made things look much grimmer than before for the remaining Republic forces.

Darth Rosario's flight crew scanned the visible surface of Alderaan in search of all the command points for the Republic and the Empire, and her special commanders and military lieutenants stood by the radar as they tried to decide the landing point for their prized vanguard fleet.

"Well, it looks like we've got something!" Lisbeth leaned on the shoulder of her sniper pal, Sinon, with a smirk. "I guess the ol' tracking implant really worked out well for us. Our first catch of the day!"

"Excuse me?" The sly Imperial Operative and hidden Republic turn-cloak, Argo, defended her handy work. "It was my mission that got the tracker on board their ship. They still have no idea they're being followed, and they have no clue that I've been giving away all their secrets to you guys."

"It was pretty genius. I'll give you that much." Sinon nodded while scratching her chin. She did not mind Argo that much, but sometimes her ego competed with Lisbeth and Sinon a little too much for good taste. "Do we know who's all on board the shuttle?"

"Who cares!" Lisbeth leaned up and cocked the rifle that she pulled off her back. "A few explosives don't know the difference between one and ten crewmen!"

"We need an exact number, not guesses." Said a very intimidating Sith juggernaut standing at the center of the radar screen. He had all black, Imperial Sith armor, a daunting cape, and a single blade light saber hilt strapped to his side. He also sported a muscular face with spikey red hair, and a solemn expression as he made his case. "How do we even know if this shuttle has our target on board? It's tracking the ship, not a person."

"Have you found something?" Asuna made her way over with quiet footsteps, but made herself very present as she stood before her subordinates.

"Yes we have, Lady Rose." The officer, Sinon, spoke clearly. "The tracker that Agent Argo put on the Republic's stealth shuttle has landed in a remote region on the northern hemisphere. The ship came from Coruscant, but the tracker has no detection of lifeforms or usernames on board…"

"That's it." Asuna had leaned into see the scanning performed by the radar, but she tried letting her instincts take over as she remembered the full briefing delivered by Argo when she boarded her ship. "The Jedi have landed."

"My Lady." The agitated Juggernaut sighed with his arms behind his back. He was a foot taller than his liege, but kept a calm mind when addressing her. "The agent can only track the ship. What if it's an NPC shuttle? We have no real idea if the kid ever made it on board, or if they switched ships from one to the…"

"That's the shuttle. It's radar outline matches the signature of that Pina cloaking ship. That's it…and I'm sure Kirito is on board with them."

She then turned away from her command, but Asuna continued addressing them over her shoulder. "Set our course for the northern sector of the planet, and alert Lady Sylvane of our arrival. General Eugene, prepare your men."

The intimidating juggernaut was now satisfied with Asuna's supervision of the situation and nodded to the other agents. Eugene left the crew and wondered down the nearest corridor to prepare a boarding party for his impending surface attack.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kirito and the others allowed Silica to safely land the ship in a slightly open patch of forest along the northern half of the planet. Fires burned in the distance, but the landscape was very split with images of burning fires and glowing skyscrapers dotting the view. Alderaan was in the middle of a deadly conflict, but all the fighting was only barely hiding the natural beauty of her surface.

Leafa outstretched her arms and dusted her hands as she set her sights forward. "Ah, Alderaan! A little smoky compared to Tython, but I'm glad to be back!"

Leafa had only been to Alderaan during her training days while she leveled her character to its maximum potential. After a disastrous defense of Tython's primary moon from the Empire, she was asked to remain permanently on Tython and look over the temple there as a liaison for all incoming new Jedi. All of this, despite being the first player on the Republic to level their character to its max.

Klein rubbed the back of his head as he held his round, wide-brimmed hat in his other hand. "A little too excited to see a burning pile of rubble, ay Leaf? Still, I can see why this place is usually called the Jewel of the Galaxy. It is pretty…pretty, I guess!

"Pretty pretty?" Silica sighed. "That's a pretty lousy way to describe it, Klein. Anyway, do we have any idea what we're supposed to be doing?"

"Yea." Kirito scouted over a hill to try and see any of the raging battles. "We're supposed to find a few old friends of mine defending a forward command point. I only know they're friends because Amanda told me their names. Yulier and Thinker."

Yulier and Thinker were two higher command figures from the days of Aincrad and Sword Art Online. They both led the fighting guild the Aincrad Liberation Force back on the first few levels of the grand castle of Kayaba, but now found themselves trapped inside the game of Star Wars as well.

 _"I guess Mathis liked the idea of sending Holocron invites to former survivors of SAO. Not to mention some of the better players from ALO and GGO like Sinon and Recon."_

"Oh yea, I've heard of them!" Recon spoke up. "Those two are like a Republic Commando fighting duo! I guess they've been here fighting on Alderaan's front lines since the conflict broke out! They say they both reached max level just by fighting PVP Empire battles!"

"Glad they're on our side!" Klein agreed, and followed after a now moving Kirito and droid Yui. "So, the boss man might have a lead!?"

Everyone followed after, but Leafa noticed she left her lightsaber inside after the meditation scene with Kirito. She waved to Silica to let them know she'd be a minute, but as she stepped back on the ramp of the Pina, she heard a strange noise coming from underneath the ramp door.

 _"Hmm…what is that sound…beeping!?"_ Leafa bent down and looked underneath the ramp door to find a blinking tracking device flashing with red and letting off a very serious noise. She reached out to grab it and poked around at a few buttons to shut the thing up. She then went into get her lightsaber, but once she made it back to the group, a surprise took her feet.

"Hey guys, you're not going to believe this, but…agh!"

Klein dragged her down to her bottom, and Kirito leaned in to wrap an arm around her mouth. Silica had her binoculars on and was looking down the hill to spot several Imperials stopped off at a camp with a tent and speeder bikes.

"Is it a scout team?" Leafa leaned forward after being released by Kirito.

"I guess so." Kirito pointed above the tree line at the original sight to steal his focus. "That satellite dish has to be something important, and I can imagine if the Empire feels comfortable enough not rushing over to attack it, then they probably have control over it and a base."

"It's probably jamming the Republic fleet's communications!" Silica butted in. "I tried letting them know that our ship was passing through under a cloak, but I couldn't reach any of the commanders!"

"ID Scan…" Yui performed a high output scan of the entire forest in front of them, and then turned on her hologram to reveal her little human form. "Daddy! I sense Yulier and Thinker in the direction of the satellite! I also found avatars that match the same signature of ALO!"

"Hmm…" Kirito pondered. "Maybe they have a sneak attack being planned for the dish. I wonder if they have a hidden army somewhere in the trees or…"

"Yea, did ya hear?" One of the Imperial Agents down below blurted out a laugh. "Those Republic Commandos got captured back at the battle of Kings Pass. Darth Sylvain is gonna off 'em once she gets to the base."

"No kidding?!" A second one howled. "I heard Darth Rosario is going to join our guys here in a minute too! We're gonna take this planet out in no time now!"

"Lady _Sylvain?_ " Kirito's eyes lit up, and he turned to Yui to try and read her expression. "And Darth _Rosario?_ "

The tiny hologram kept a finger to her chin as she tried decoding the conversation. "That would explain the ALO signatures…maybe it's one of Leafa's old friends from ALO! As for the other person, Rosario could mean it's a former member of the Sleeping Knights Guild!"

"Yea? Oh brother…" Kirito knew Leafa felt very opinionated with her ALO faction the Sylphs, but only one of her former acquaintances could assume the command of an entire Imperial task force in a battle like Alderaan. "In that case, we gotta move fast!"

"HEY!" Klein and the others yelled as Kirito raced down the hill in a quick action with his still uncontrolled Force powers, but Leafa was the only one to try and fetch him as she followed after. Yui left after her, which made the rest of the group charge uncontrollably down the bushy hill and into the Imperial encampment.

"Hey! What the hell is…!?" One man stood up and yelled, but suddenly took a purple lightsaber to the chest as Kirito landed on him from a jump, and then tossed the other saber in his left hand through the chest of a second officer. He kept his hand up to try and draw it back, but he remembered he had not mastered that power yet and pouted with anger.

"Agh…damn it." He stewed in frustration as his recovery of the fallen lightsaber let the third and fourth operative get away, but not as Leafa powered on one of the remaining bikes to chase after them.

"Grab my hand!" She cried out to Kirito, and he obliged as he jumped on behind her, and shot after the two fleeing Imperials making their way for the satellite.

Klein and the others made it down the hill, but they read the situation and only counted one remaining bike. Agh, you take it, Jedi boy! Silica and I will grab the ship with Yui."

Recon nodded, but he soon felt sweat forming over his brow as he jumped on the dangerous speeder bike, and bunny hopped forward into a lightning frenzy after his friends.

"Man, am I stupid or what?" Klein laughed to himself. "I let the only person here who can't fly take the last bike."

"Who cares!" Silica shouted back as she and Yui raced back up the hill. "We have to try and support them from the air!"

Klein signaled his agreement, and swiftly met them at the Pina to follow after their reckless party members.

Leafa and Kirito zipped through the dense trees of Alderaan to chase after the fleeing Imperials. The Jedi powered on the bike's laser blasters, but the cannon could not manage to hit anything as the skilled riders wove flawlessly through the trunks and bushes of the first floor.

"Man…" Kirito leaned to the side to get a better view. "The Force must be pretty strong with those two!"

"Don't be an ass!" Leafa took his compliment for the regular Imperial soldiers as offensive and tried to get closer to the back bike. "I'm going to follow after that leader, you try and jump off here to grab this guy!"

"Ha!" Kirito liked the sound of that. "Like Luke and Leia from the movies!"

"Sure!?" Leafa had no choice but to laugh at that. "Whatever gets ya movin', kid!"

Kirito waited for his driver to get closer to the second biker, but as they came right on his tail, the Imperial swerved out from an approaching tree, and widened the parallel gap between himself and the Jedi and her companion.

"Agh!" Leafa was mad at herself for not following up on the enemy. "Well, I don't suppose you've been practicing a Force jump lately?"

"Nope." Kirito admitted as he pulled out one of his purple lightsabers. "But I have been working on my saber throws!"

"YEA?! Well you haven't been working on a saber catch!" Leafa knew he could throw his weapon pretty far and with great accuracy, but as demonstrated back at the camp site, he could not give his lightsaber the traditional boomerang effect as most Force wielders could.

Kirito narrowed his vision and took a deep breath. "Right…but now I really don't have an option to let it not come back, do I?"

"Mhmm." Leafa had no words and took a giant gulp as she let him do his thing. Kirito took another deep breath, and just as he widened his view, the scene froze instantly, and gave him an opening right for the parallel biker between two adjacent bushes.

"AGH!" He tossed the purple blade end over end, and watched it make its way for its target, and just before the driver could get past the second bush, the lightsaber landed in his chest, and ended his playing career as the bike slammed into the bushes and blew up instantly.

Leafa gasped and yelled back to her comrade. "Uh, Kirito!? I don't suppose you managed to grab your saber after the explosion, did you?"

"Um…well?" Kirito gave her a hysterical chuckle and shrugged. "Eh, I only just got the thing! It's not like I'll need it to be competitive, right?"

"Idiot…you're a duel-wielding class, remember?" Leafa felt even more frustrated than before as she tried to narrow in on the remaining speeder bike.

But as the two speeders rounded over a hill, her eyes lit up when they emerged from the forest and right into an open clearing scorched by fire and dirt, with lasers flying back and forth, and heavy artillery aimed at both sides of the front.

It was an all-out battle near the foot of the satellite base. Leafa ignored the remaining biker, and now tried to dodge collections of enemy squads and her own Republic allies while Kirito kept his eyes peeled for any leads.

"What do we do now!? This place is crawling with troopers on both sides!"

"Yea!" Kirito kept up his search, until his eye stopped at a hill right near the foot of the satellite. It looked to be an amazing vantage point of the battlefield, and just then his Force powers tingled inside his brain.

"It's Yulier and Thinker! I think they're in trouble over on that hill!"

"They are?" Leafa only knew those two were Republic allies, and barely remembered Kirito knew them from some other previous title. She agreed with his logic and turned to make way for the Imperial forward command.

"Lady Sylvane, our messengers report that General Eugene is heading our way with reinforcements. The Empire's Wrath is also scouting the planet, but she appears to be on her own mission."

"Excellent" Said the evil beauty behind the current assault of Alderaan's defenses. Darth Sylvane was the Sith Lord put in charge of assaulting the Jewel of the Galaxy, but as Kirito imagined, she also resembled the familiar face of Lady Sakuya from the hit fairy-based tactical game—Alfheim Online.

Sakuya turned away from her reporting officer, and grabbed a menacing dark saber staff, and ignited its deep indigo blades as she approached two kneeling Republic commandos who currently had their hands firmly placed on their own heads. "Remove your helmets. We need to talk."

The commandos obliged, and as their white and gold helmets came off, Yulier and Thinker revealed themselves to the commanding Sith Lord with looks of anger and defeat covering their faces.

Yulier tossed her helmet aside. "Kill us. We're not saying anything."

"You won't even tell me where the remainder of your hide outs are on this pathetic planet? How sad." She raised on end to meet Yulier's chin, but let it hang just under her skin. "Maybe I should kill you then, and just let the little lover boy here watch me do it."

"Yulier!" Thinker was only in this mess as he assaulted the group of Imperials who flanked his real-world life and her men just moments ago. His attack was no match for a well-armed Sith Lord, however, as they now both faced the fate of war criminals with a captor not looking to show quarter for her enemies.

Sakuya was drawn back, however, as a lone speeder bike ramped up the slope that met the hill the Imperials were all standing at, and Kirito and Leafa powered on their lightsabers, and began taking out all the Empire's men around them with a flurry of green and purple attacks.

Even with one sword, Kirito was able to keep up with Leafa and her swift, duel-ended saber staff. The blonde Jedi slashed the guards around Thinker and Yulier, and Kirito helped them both to their feet as he brought them in both for a hug.

"You guys! It's me, Kirito!" He wondered if they too were going to suffer the same fate.

"Uhh…" They both looked at one another, and gave him that confirmation as they started laughing. Thinker spoke first. "Sorry, that doesn't ring a bell, but thank you for saving us!"

"Yes, but your fight isn't over." Yulier stepped away and picked up a rifle as several elite guards swarmed their area, and Sakuya too charged forward with a twin light saber ready to punch.

"Ah, the Hero of Tython, and a new apprentice, I see? Hmm, that's funny…he has no faction."

"Sylvane." Leafa snarled her teeth, and appeared to recognize the false, dark side persona of one of her closest ALO friends.

Kirito was intrigued, though, to see Leafa show some recognition of Sakuya. "Hold on, you know her too?"

"Yea…" Leafa wanted to stop talking. "She's the one who led the attack on the moon over Tython. I almost lost my arm in that fight, and would have lost more if Master Amun-din didn't step in."

"Wait, are you saying I'm supposed to recognize both of you?" Sakuya crossed her arms over her usually large chest and tried giving the black-haired ally of her enemy a pouty face. "I wish I knew you. Better looking than half the men on my task force."

"Ugh." Kirito did not seem to care for the more forward version of the Lady from ALfheim and tried to shake the thought away as he spun his single purple blade in his right hand. "Sakuya, you're being brain washed! The Sith employees are controlling all the Holocron users on your side to do what they want!"

"You do know me!" Sakuya was now totally freaked out that he knew her IRL name. "You're not very flattering anymore! No matter. A duel-wield class with one light saber, and a broken Jedi Master from a pathetic temple have nothing to threaten me with."

Kirito and Leafa both advanced, but Sakuya sent out a powerful electrical charge as she tried launching two insane Force lighting attack right at her enemies' chests. Kirito barely managed to block his, and even Leafa seemed to struggle against the might of the powerful Sith Assassin.

"AGH!" Leafa shouted over the blue wave of electricity. "Kirito! She's a really powerful Sith Inquisitor! She's learned how to master Force lightning, and she'll even surround your lightsaber with it if you're not careful!"

"She can shock her opponent's weapons!?" Kirito was starting to lose his footing. "AGH! This is way too strong. WHY CAN'T EVERYONE JUST FIGHT WITH LIGHTSABERS LIKE A NORMAL SWORD-BASED GAME!?"

Sakuya doubled her efforts, but stopped as a large Sith shuttle rounded their fight, and landed behind the out-numbered Sith Inquisitor. She knew her skill was just as good as her current opponents, but she had a feeling that a powerful ally was about to join her.

She was right, Eugene the Sith Juggernaut emerged from the smoke with a powered on red light saber. He held fire in his eyes, and scared away all the foot soldiers of the Republic that were recently set free by Kirito and Leafa.

"Oh no!" Yulier shouted while her men ran down the hill. "General Eugene is here!?"

"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!?" Kirito yelled with full blown anger as the lightning faded around his body. "Now I have to fight both of them!?

"The twerp!" Eugene did not remember the hated Spriggan of ALFheim but gave him a smile as he noticed the grey bar and no faction tag above Kirito's head. "Huh, the tracker must have shut off or something. We've been looking all over for you!"

However, he did not know that his commander gave strict concern for keeping Kirito's life, because his eyes now filled with even more fire. "This'll save the Wrath a trip if I just kill you here and now!"

"Kirito!" Leafa stepped up. "He's one of the most powerful fighters in the Sith Empire! What did you do to make him mad!?"

"Probably just took a breath, or something! Eugene never really said why he hated me in the first place…still. I beat him once, so I'll beat him again."

Leafa had no idea he was talking about the famous battle the two warriors held over the fields of ALfheim, and a small blush crossed over her face just like that very fateful day when Kirito stepped forward to challenge his opponent.

"Eugene! What's say we have ourselves a rematch!?"

"HA!" General Eugene had no idea what the kid was talking about. "You are an idiot, but I like ya even more now that I know you have the same fire I do!" He then looked at Kirito's missing light saber.

"Your left hand's open, duel-wielder. You're gonna have a lot of catching up to do if ya want to beat me with broken class skills."

"NO HE WON'T!" An unlit lightsaber flew through the battle, but Kirito smiled as he both recognized the voice, and saw the handle coming his way. He grabbed it with his left hand and welcomed the newly added Jedi Sage to the battle.

"Recon." Kirito smirked. "Glad to see you caught up to us."

Leafa smiled as she, Recon, and Kirito all had open blades ready to attack the Sith tag-team of Eugene and Sakuya. The black-haired vixen looked to the higher ranking Sith General for her next move.

"Your thoughts, General?" She said with witty sarcasm. "I love seeing you try to make up your mind."

Eugene marched forward and kept his eyes firmly on Kirito. "Take the two pansies, yourself. The one in all-grey is mine."

* * *

 **Yikes. Anyone who has ever played a Star Wars game knows what it's like to fly those damn speeder bikes through a forest...disastrous!**

 **Some of the ALfheim characters returned, and some SAO faces too! The master Leafa and her two disciples will have a tough one a head of them with the two Sith Lords at their mark. I just hope Kirito can win without using the Force.**

 **Until Next Time!**


	17. 16: Duel of the Familiars

**Auhtor's Note: Chapter 16! Lot's going on here, so enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Sixteen - Duel of the Familiars

* * *

Red, green, and purple all clashed back and forth as the Jedi, Sith, and independent Kirito waged their own battle on an overlooking hill that mimicked a very similar bloody battle down below. Fire, laser, ash, and dirt all flew in the air as the Republic tried to keep a firm hold on the valley before the satellite building that was currently being occupied by the Empire.

They were using a mighty transmitter dish to scrambled communication signals for the Republic fleet floating over Alderaan, which was not helping the already outnumbered group as the Empire's Wrath's fleet joined the Sith ships to take the fight further in favor of the Empire.

Yulier and Thinker were now running on the valley floor, firing off in the distance at Imperial marksmen shooting right back at them. They managed to find a pair of rocks in the middle of the field, and tried to gather enough stamina to rush back to their line in order to rally up another assault on the satellite base. Thinker used a heavy mini-gun, while Yulier kept to a more precise rifle blaster aimed at a troop of Imperial commanders not too far away.

"This is looking really bad." Yulier had not let a shot loose yet and held a finger over her trigger as she tried to sound reasonable for her partner. "Eugene's presence means Darth Rosario and her new fleet have all made it to Alderaan, which means our defense here is probably finished!"

"True." Thinker cocked his weapon again as he guarded their rear. "But that greyed-out boy up on the hill. He seemed really sure about our chances…and he really did sound like he knew us outside the game."

"That was strange!" Yulier yelled back, looking away from her mark. "You think he could help us try to log out? I've been having fun playing this game up until this point! Not really looking to lose all this progress because some angry Sith Lord decided to do her job and join her allies in a space battle!"

Thinker shrugged and powered on his blaster. "We'll all have to make it out of here alive. You could always ask the kid for yourself!"

"I…guess…so." Yulier's words were brought to a slow whisper, as her eye was now back to her weapon's scope. She found a very well decorated Imperial officer on the other end of her barrel, and finally pulled the trigger, but as the laser bullet shot past the end of her gun, it hit an invisible wall in the middle of the field.

"YIKES!" Yulier stood in a frantic worry. "Am I going blind, or did I just break the game!?"

A cloaked ship emerged from the shot mark, and revealed an unimpressed Klein leaning in a ramp door with one leg crossed over the other.

"Geez…glad this isn't my ship." Klein tried to smile, but he found it hard to do so as he realized they were now an open target on a battlefield. "And I hope our shields are up. COME ON YOU TWO!"

Yulier and Thinker had no idea what to expect, but followed the yelling smuggler's request as they darted across a field now lit up with lasers aiming in their direction. They jumped on board, and Klein hammered the door shut as the party join Silica and Yui in the Pina's cockpit.

"The smuggler, Silica!" Yulier lit up with a smile. "We heard you'd be back for a second fight, but we missed you once you left for Coruscant!"

"Sorry!" Silica let Klein take over as she sighed. "Master Amun-din told me to follow her back to Coruscant for some weird mission. Then she told me to drive these weird people back to Alderaan. I mean Yui here is nice, and that Jedi Leafa was sweet. Bu Klein and that Grey Kid have been a little too much for me to handle."

"Excuse me!" Klein zipped passed a few Imperial fighters and shot a third out of the sky with forward aiming guns. "But I'm not the one acting like I know every player in this damn game on a real name basis. If ya ask me, I think he's just messing with us, now!"

Yulier laughed, but Thinker leaned over Klein's chair of command. "You have to take out the satellite. The Empire is using it to jam the communication on our fleet above. They can't coordinate a proper counter attack if the command ship can't reach the frigates!"

"Yea that does sound bad…Yui, can you locate any weaknesses in that building's shields?"

"Let me see…" Yui took her command and tried scanning the building from top to bottom before finishing a very valuable report. "Try aiming ion shots at the central antenna in the dish! That might break up the signal on the rest of the structure, and the shield has to be weakest where there isn't enough metal to support a shield!"

"Yea…ion shots." Klein shook his head and signaled to the two new members of the crew. "You two might want to get on our guns, and whoever has the better shot needs to take the top turret. That's where a ship like this usually keeps its axillary ammo."

Silica was normally uncomfortable with other people flying her ship, but she could tell Klein enjoyed flying well enough to be careful with her prize. She also remembered that his Salamander ship was the exact same model as the Pina, so she gave him a soft mile, and took control of the co-pilot's controls.

"Ya, know, I don't let anyone fly my Pina, but I can make an exception this one time if you promise to take out that satellite."

Klein smiled manically as he smoothed his palms over the controls of the ship. "Lady, I'll do anything for anyone as long as I keep all-time driving privileges. Let's take out this stupid dish and get our boys home! While we're at it, Kirito's little droid can start repairing the hyperdrive for us!"

Yui's droid body beeped in response, but the holographic girl shot out to make her own reply. "I'll do my best, but if those fighters in the west sector get any closer, I'm afraid our shields probably won't be done recharging in time!"

Klein wiped his brow with his left forearm, and let his right lean a lever down with ease as his targeting computer picked up three more enemy ships coming from where she warned of. "It's fine, we have Silica's cloaking technology. Besides...I know a few maneuvers which ought to shake the more persistent ones."

* * *

Back at the base of the satellite, the light saber battle raged on as Leafa and Recon tried to keep their distance from the menacing Sakuya. They split themselves up to cover more ground, but they stayed on defense while the Sith Lord sent waves of Force lightning across the field and at their feet for most of the fight.

Occasionally Sakuya would run in and assault one of them, usually Recon since he was smaller. His defensive stances were good, and usually acted as help for Leafa to attack from behind and catch Sakuya off guard.

Kirito and Eugene were a different story. The duel-wielding sword saint fought with an all-time offensive as he used his twin purple blades for slashes and attacks only, not in a menacing way, but only to keep a fast pace to avoid Eugene's harder hitting power.

Eugene barely moved as he was so daunting in his brute armor and taller stance. He would often slash one of Kirito's attacks away, then try and cut the other light saber from his enemy's hand for the rebound attack, but often met blade with blade as Kirito rounded back again for a new cycle of attacks.

Kirito crossed his blades for a chop attack, but Eugene slammed his saber in between it to block. The Juggernaut spoke fast. "You really are something else! I never thought a duel-wielder would be able to keep up with my defenses!"

Kirito took a breath as he held his stance. "You're no slouch, yourself! Not like this is anything new to me, though!"

"There you go again!" Eugene tossed his arms forward, and he pushed Kirito back and away with his blade. "Kid, I'd remember an opponent like you if we ever fought in the past! I don't forget enemies who last this long against me!"

Kirito gave him a grin as he spun his sabers around and held the blades parallel with his forearms. "Well don't worry, by the time I'm through with you we'll all be logged out, and we'll be at my cabin on Floor 22 where I can brag how I beat you a second time in a sword fight!"

"Wow." Eugene felt a crazy smile take his own face. "No wonder Emperor Lusac has his eyes set on you…you'll be lucky if the Wrath lets you live on that ship of hers with a mouth like that."

"Gsh!" Kirito ran forward. "Wrath? Lusac? I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THAT!" Kirito launched a purple flurry at Eugene as two blades crisscrossed past the General's body like buzz saws. The towering Sith Warrior managed to block both blades every time they came near him, and the assault raged on and on until both men walked the fight over to a steep cliff on the hill.

Eugene slammed his weapon down hard again since Kirito was losing his ground. His fancy foot work would not work near the cliff's edge as he crossed his blades again and forced himself to stand right on the ledge.

"Give up, Jedi!" Eugene kept his shoulder strong as he pushed his light saber down harder onto Kirito's two. "Either you surrender and come with me, or I kill you now and send your body to the Emperor as a prize!"

"I'm not going anywhere!" Kirito said with rage in his voice as he started gaining strength in his back and forearms. "I have a galaxy to save, and friends to get out of this game!"

He then released the hold, and scuffed Eugene's left arm and leg as a glowing scar took the length of the Juggernaut's body. Kirito then stepped back to deliver a final blow.

"Plus! I'M WAY BETTER WITH SWORDS THAN YOU'LL EVER BE!"

"AGH!" Eugene roared with the Force and sent the two weapons in Kirito's hands flying over the cliffside. He then grabbed the small grey swordsman by the throat with powers resonating from the Dark Side of the Force.

"Kid…in this world, it's more than just sword play." He tossed Kirito's choking body over the edge and turned to find the other skirmish. "So much for giving Lady Rose what she wants."

Over with the other Sith Lord, Leafa was holding off twice the Force lightning as Recon laid down by her side in defeat. Her green saber staff was still in her hand, but it was only acting as a shield against the mighty power of Darth Sylvane.

Sakuya cackled with laughter, and she started marching toward the near defeated Leafa with grace in every step. "Just like Tython! Only my army is bigger this time, and you have no Jedi Master coming to save you."

"Agh…!" Leafa was unsure whether her arms or back would snap first under all the stress in her defensive posture, but suddenly leaned forward with a fierce expression. "You're right…except this time…I'm the Jedi Master who's gonna take you down!"

She telekinetically picked up some discarded snow from beside the battle field and tossed it at Sakuya. Then Leafa powered on a Force skill with mystic golden air. Instantly, she vanished before Sakuya's eyes.

"Huh?" The Sith Assassin knew what Leafa was doing, and soon after Sakuya mimicked her old friend and covered herself in a veiled shadow of dark energy. The scene was quiet, but suddenly gold met red as a green saber slashed against a red saber, and Leafa and Sakuya emerged with snarling faces and crossed weapons.

They appeared to be evenly matched, but Leafa felt a new resilience of energy flowing through her veins. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Recon raising a hand to support her with his power.

"Thanks, Recon" She smiled quietly to herself, then zipped away like a flash of light. Eventually she emerged on the other side of Sakuya, only the Sith Lord was now kneeling with a glowing wound protruding from her side.

"Agh…" Sakuya dropped her weapon, and tried to keep her body up as Leafa went to help Recon. "You little…go on and finish me, girl."

"No." Leafa held one of Recon's arms over her shoulders as she gave Sakuya a serious expression. "Killing another warrior after a battle like that isn't in my blood. Not to mention I had help defeating you. I'll let you go, as long as you promise to…"

"AGH!"

Leafa shuttered in fear with Recon as they heard the loud, booming voice of General Eugene right behind them. A large yell caused them to shiver in place, but as they turned around, two purple light sabers stuck out from the General's chest as his own light saber was raised above his head ready to attack.

Kirito stood on the other side of Eugene with a menacing face, and drew the blades from the dead Eugene, then he swiftly followed up on Sakuya, and ended her life in a quick slash to greet Leafa and Recon in their victory.

"Kirito!" Recon tried to yell. "You saved us!"

"No kidding!" Leafa stuttered. "B-But how did you beat Eugene all by your…?"

"Never leave your enemy alive."

"Uhh?" Leafa froze with sadness in her voice.

Kirito looked his cousin in the eye. "Look, I really can't thank you enough, Sugu, for all that you've done for me here in TORO. You've kinda been like a master to me, but you can't let some fake Jedi Code get the better of you when a powerful enemy is ready to die. What if Sakuya would have ran away? What if she would have stabbed you in the back like I stabbed Eugene!?"

"I…" Leafa was lost for words. "Kirito I…"

"Just go find a camp and get some rest. We'll need all the strength we can get if we want to…"

Leafa's pocket began to glow, and a soft beeping noise came from her cloak as her eyes lit up, and a bead of sweat rolled down her temple.

"Oh no…the tracker!"

"What?" Kirito tried to understand what she was muttering about. "What do you have, Sugu?"

"It's a tracker I got from our ship." Leafa pulled out the tiny red device that managed to stay quiet for the longest time, but suddenly decided to go off in an alerting frenzy. "I think there's an Imperial Spy working inside Coruscant. That or those bounty hunters got to our ships when they made their escape."

"Why would they track us though?" Kirito tried to put some of the pieces together.

Recon scratched his head. "C-Could they be tracking someone on our team? I-I mean Sylvane knew Leafa from a battle over Tython. Maybe she wanted her to come here!"

"No, she acted surprised when she saw me." Leafa tried to think, but Kirito lent her a hand with his own observation.

"Eugene said something about turning me over to Emperor Lusac. He said somebody called the 'Empire's Wrath' was on her way here to Alderaan."

"The Empire's Wrath." Leafa's skin trembled with absolute fear as that title rang a familiar chord in her mind. That name struck fear into the hearts of every Republic player, as running into the Empire's Wrath guaranteed your death if you played for the Light Side.

"She's after you! That's the Emperor's Master Executioner! Emperor Lusac probably knows you're helping his sister, and now he must want you dead!"

"Psh!" Kirito sounded cocky. "So, he thinks some phony Sith Lord named the Empire's Wrath is gonna take me down. If the dude wanted me dead, he should have sent himself to do it."

Just then the conversation was cut short as an intimidating Sith cruiser flew over the battle field, and locked itself right for the hill where Kirito and his two friends were discussing his safety. Leafa's eyes continued to grow, until they turned to find Sakuya's abandoned Phantom-Class Star Ship sitting idly by.

She tucked the tracker away in her pocket, and gave Kirito a mighty kiss on his cheek after wrapping him up in a great big hug. "Don't worry, I'll deal with those guys!" She ran for the door of the shuttle, while Recon and Kirito charged after her.

"WAIT!" Kirito was furious. "I'M NOT LETTING YOU GO ON YOUR OWN!"

"ME EITHER!" Recon shouted along with him. "YOU CAN'T FACE A WHOLE SHIP BY YOURSELF!"

Leafa made it to the door, and with her hand on the closing switch, she used her Force powers to pull Recon forward, and tossed him on board behind her. She chose to leave Kirito behind, but also made sure to leave him with a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about me, Kirito, I'll be fine. It's like you just said, I'm sort of like your master!"

The doors shut as Kirito made it to the ship, but the blinding engines powered on, and sent him flying in their wake as the Phantom lifted from the ground and attracted the attention of the new Imperial Shuttle. It was a menacing Fury Class Assault Ship, and with a larger crew on board, it was going to be easy to take down a Phantom ship with an inexperienced crew.

"Leafa…" Kirito watched the two ships fly off into the snow-covered forests to the north. His heart was pounding in his chest, and a tear formed underneath his eye. "In the movies, the Jedi Masters are always the ones to die."

The Jedi Master of Tython took the smooth flying Phantom through the high pines of Alderaan, and Recon used some previous experience in the co-captain's seat to try and fire reverse blaster shots back at the approaching ship. The Sith Fury-Class ship was right on their tail, though, and with every tree branch that the Phantom glided by, the Fury chopped them off like a machete in a rain forest.

Then, in a quick flash, a red bolt shot the back of the Phantom wide open as the Sith Infiltrator fell from the sky, and crash landed against a set of high pine trees in a small opening of the forest. The metal husk slid over the open, snowy ground, and smoke and flame rose from the wreckage as the two pilots cut open the glass window and coughed for leir lives.

"AGh-uh!" Leafa fell from the window, and Recon toppled after her as the Sith Fury landed on the other end of the clearing. This air craft was actually no ordinary star ship, but instead held the name of the most famous shuttle in the Imperial Order—The Blood Oath.

Fog rolled away from the door at the back of the Blood Oath, and as the metal sheet ramp hit the snowy ground, a lone figure emerged from its landing with a deep burgundy cloak. The owner of the ship removed her hood, and revealed a protective, yet sleek new crimson set of body armor accented with white stripes and specks of black as she scanned the wrecked ship for her target.

However, as Asuna narrowed her yellow tinted eyes, Leafa stood with a shake in her legs, and held up a beeping tracking device.

"Looking for this…?" The female Jedi let out another bout of coughs, then tossed the small device in the air, slicing it in two, and mocking the Sith Lord on the other side of the clearing.

Asuna never responded, her eyes did all they could to not bulge out of her head. She then looked away from the broken homing beacon and looked at the standing but wounded Leafa and Recon.

The two Jedi Counselors drew their blades, but Leafa only had one end ignited as she stood in more of a passive stance. Recon, on the other hand, was bobbing up and down with pure heat, all while the terrifying Sith Warrior marched forward in a slow but menacing walk.

"Recon…" Leafa held two hands on her half-lit saberstaff. "This girl is unlike anyone we've ever seen or fought against. She's not like the other Sith."

"I know…" Recon felt fire roll through his eyes as his feet failed to sit still. "But I bet she'll die JUST LIKE THEY ALL DO!"

"RECON!"

The green haired fool ran forward with a light saber raised over his head. Asuna kept walking, but slowed herself as her left hand rose and grabbed Recon with a Force choke. She slammed him into a nearby rock wall, and let the light saber fall from his hands as he smashed to his defeat. Her eyes never left Leafa.

Leafa wanted to gasp, but she did her best to quell her emotions as a Jedi Master the moment the second blade on her staff lit up with a green aura.

"You're not the person I'm after." Asuna narrowed her vision and took the curved light saber handle from her side. "Where is he?"

"I'm not letting you near Kirito!" Leafa yelled with a passive voice. "He's come a long way since we met, and I believe he has the ability to be the best Jedi on our team."

"He's no Jedi." Asuna scoffed. "He doesn't even have a faction. Tell me where he is, or you both die."

The red lightsaber lit up, and she pointed it right at Leafa, but the Jedi Master of Tython stood the valiant Empire's Wrath down as all the strength in her veins was summoned for the biggest fight of her life.

"Unlucky for you…" Leafa spun her blade around and shifted her stance for an assault. "I'm perfectly fine with killing any Sith Lord who is willing to hurt one of my friends."

Asuna stood tall, and held her powerful light saber at her side, while her yellow eyes narrowed in pure hatred for such a bizarre young opponent.

"So be it, Jedi."

* * *

 **Yikes! Kirito's two closest companions are faced to fight one another. The noble Jedi Master versus the cunning Dark Lord of the Sith. Next chapter will be the most "Star Warsy" one yet!**

 **Until Then!**


	18. 17: The Weight of War

**Author's Note: It's been too long! No, I have not given up on this story. This story is a craft to me, so I'm trying to take my time in its release. Is it amazing? I dunno...is this chapter pretty good? I think so!**

 **Anyway, without further ado, here is a fight between Asuna and Leafa of Sword Art Online.**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Seventeen - The Weight of War

* * *

Asuna and Leafa charged forward and clashed their lightsabers together in a ringing color mash of green and red. Leafa's off blade spun up to meet Asuna in the chest, but the skilled sword smith shifted it away with a gentle nudge. Leafa tried a spin trick to swarm Asuna with both ends of her staff, but the Sith Lord deflected every single slash with her curved-hilt saber.

Asuna kept her feet moving in a clockwise half circle, she wanted to turn the skirmish in a slow rotation to study her opponent. The swordswoman was always known for intensively studying her enemy, which allowed her to move in for an efficient kill once she spotted a weakness.

The problem here was the Jedi Master of Tython was showing a wonderful defense even in her bruised and battered stated. Leafa kept herself very poised and in control of her emotions, and she followed Asuna's advances to give her an honest fight, but she made sure to curve her backwards walk as well to not run into a tree trunk or trip over metal debris.

Leafa rotated her saber between both hands, but Asuna kept hers in her right at all time. Her left hand was slightly elevated for balance, which left the blonde Jedi worried that she would use a Force trick to manipulate the battle. Leafa was a skilled student of the Force, which allowed her to try and visualize any unique energy signatures surrounding a Dark Side opponent.

They backed away from each other, then slammed their blades into a crossing clash as they each looked into the other's eyes.

"Leafa, is it? I sense fear in you." Asuna gave Leafa a glare with her eyes. "You're afraid of losing your friends. You must have hatred for me, but you won't act on it."

"Yea?" Leafa was being pushed by Asuna's powerful grip and tried to lean back the other way. "Well, I sense confusion in you. You're torn to fight me, and you're worried you won't be able to bring Kirito back to your master!"

She was only half right. Asuna had no real fear of coming up empty handed for Lusac. The war was already too far developed for her to worry about losing her valuable position for the Emperor. However, she did feel strange fighting Leafa with such anger in her veins. This was just a stranger, a regular Jedi Master that she had never met before. So why did her eyes, her hair, her voice all seem familiar?

Leafa powered down on her grip and pushed Asuna's sword lower to the ground. She then flipped around to her right and tried to bring the back point of her secondary blade into meet Asuna's chest, but the skilled Sith parried the move, and flipped backwards to regain some ground.

Leafa stood a great distance from the Sith now, and raised her right hand as she formed a curve with her index finger. A swarming wind surrounded her, and the energy picked up all the rocks and debris at her feet.

She launched it all in a flurry toward Asuna, but the Sith Lord used her fast blade to slice and deflect all the particles away. She had not seen a Jedi pull that move in some time, which left her excited to finish this battle out to its end. She lifted her left hand and grabbed a large chunk of icy snow from the ground and whipped it around the field to block Leafa's weapon and view.

The Jedi shut her eyes and tried to melt the snow with her radiant energy, but then opened them to block Asuna's rush attack at the last second. The two warriors held out their stances, until several large boulders shot from the broken cliff side and launched themselves right at Asuna.

The Sith flipped over the first and sliced the second one in half to block out the remain two. She landed on her feet and noticed a severely injured Recon joining her heavy-breathing Jedi Master.

"Recon, you idiot!" Leafa yelled out as her side-kick joined her. "You're in no condition to be battling a Sith Lord right now!"

"Agh!" Recon held a bruised arm, but kept his green lightsaber lit in his remaining hand. "It's fine! Besides, the only way we'll beat a villain like this is if we rush her two-on-one."

"You really are and idiot." Asuna did not smile, but she was very amused with the two Jedi and their tag-team strategy. "Listen to your Master."

Leafa sighed and spun her saber around while looking ahead. She readdressed her friend, Recon. "Fine, but we're doing it together this time. No rushing in."

"Fine by me!" Recon stated. "I'll support, you attack."

"Good." Asuna always liked taking out the support first anyway in a tag-duel. "A Master and an apprentice. Double the fall."

The Sith Lord gave them an honorable salute with a twirl of her lightsaber and let Leafa charge her while keeping her saber held high. She parried and fenced like a master duelist and watched Recon from behind as he sent magical Force waves to his partner for additional stamina support.

Leafa felt super-charged now and doubled her own speed on her attacks as she sliced the air trying to dictate Asuna's moves, but Asuna danced with every one of her attacks as she knocked all her rounds back the way they came.

"Heh!" Asuna kept the saber in one hand again as she cracked her first smile of the match. "I suppose you're feeling pretty confident about yourself right now?"

Leafa felt like she should be out of breath, but her lungs stayed full of energy, and with every swell of Recon's power. She also failed to respond to Asuna's question. Sith Lords were known to get in the heads of Jedi they fought, but this Jedi Master knew every trick in the book as she kept her composure and started moving the fight in her favor.

Asuna let her smile fade, but she felt no worse off than the beginning of the duel as she effortlessly kept her defenses on high. She noticed the light surrounding Leafa started to fade now and then as Recon was the one who actually suffered from energy loss, due to his assisting abilities being turned on a full, constant power.

"Recon!" Leafa shouted back with fear. "Do you need to switch?"

"I'm…fine, Leafa! I'm totally…fine!" He was losing his breath, but the will in his heart kept the Force channeled between him and his loyal friend, Leafa, alive.

Asuna started pushing back and began walking Leafa back the other way. "Just give up! I could take you both on even if you gave me an all-out offensive with both lightsabers! I've killed enough Jedi in this game, I can let two more live…as long as you show me where he is!"

"I'M NOT LETTING YOU NEAR, KIRITO! GOT IT!? I…WON'T…DO…IT!" Leafa kept her saber right in front as Asuna stopped hacking, and instead just started pushing their skirmish back towards Recon with a slow but powerful march.

"I'm not letting you get near Kirito…because I'm not done training him! I owe him all my focus to help him master the Force System. To save all of us!"

"You are bold..." Darth Rosario spoke almost robotically this time. "Okay then."

Asuna had enough of the girl and broke apart the sabers being held up as she sliced the top end of Leafa's saber handle off from the rest. She shoved Leafa away with the power of her Force ability, and then pulled the tired and defeated Recon forward.

"AGHGH!" Recon's torso passed through the tip of Asuna's lightsaber. Like a huntsman spearing his kill, she threw him off her saber and toward the ground with a downward cutting motion as Leafa stood from her pile of dirt with a cry of heart break.

"RECON!"

Asuna stood over the now dead Jedi and spun her weapon again toward the Master. She said no words and allowed Leafa to make the next move while she waited with another plan up her sleeve.

Leafa had tried to keep herself calm and collected during the whole fight in order to save her friends, but in the end, it got one of them killed. If she came out of this fight a loser, then Kirito would suffer the same fate. She cared for Recon and Kirito in similar ways, but Kirito was their best chance of getting out of this game, and her best chance of regaining her own memory.

She took a deep breath and twirled her lightsaber forward to make it a single blade saber. She held her weapon like a kendo sword and opened her eyes to target the enemy before her. While letting out a violent war cry, the master swordswoman charged the Sith Lord with an all-out raid and showed no mercy in her attacks.

Asuna could feel more fear and anger raging through Leafa's body and had no choice but to smile in an early victory. She let Leafa do whatever she wanted and gave her enemy's lightsaber free range to try and hack her to pieces, but just as it came close to her body, Asuna deflected the slices away every time.

Leafa took the bait, and also took a page from Kirito's book as she tried hacking away at anything she could reach on Asuna. Legs, arms, her gut, her clothes, her hair, everything was her target. She was out to take down this ruthless Lord of the Sith, the Master Executioner for the Emperor of the Dark Side.

Their blades got held up in another cross block, and both girls leaned in to hold the other one away, but just as Leafa shifted her stance, she slowly turned her handle to let it slide down the face of Asuna's red blade. She then guided the point along the other saber to hit Asuna's face, but just as Asuna leaned out of the way, Leafa's green lightsaber nicked her enemy's cheek with a glowing yellow scar.

Asuna jumped back, and let her left hand slowly raise to her barely damaged cheek. That was the first time an enemy ever scarred her body, and was the first time her sword fighting skills earned her any sort of injury or blemish. She felt her heart beat faster and faster, and rage began to swell inside her mind as Leafa stood back with a fierce stance.

The Sith Lord charged forward in a demanding march and started using her curved lightsaber as a maul more than a sword. Now she held the curved red blade with two hands, instead of one. She bashed Leafa's weapon hit after hit as the Jedi Shadow blocked her assault over and over again. The now tired Jedi was growing weaker due to her crash site injuries, and she had no idea how long she could hold out the battle.

"AGH!"

Finally, The Empire's Wrath displayed the meaning of her illustrious title as she hacked the rest of Leafa's handle up in two, cutting the fingers from Leafa's outer grip hand to drive the point of her red blade through the blonde Jedi's heart in a quick but brutal fashion.

"NOOOOOOO!"

Leafa's weakening eyes opened wide as she recognized that yell, and Asuna looked over the still standing Leafa's shoulders, as Kazuto Kirigaya nearly fell to his knees next to a freshly driven speeder bike. His hands were out in a grasping motion, and his eyes showed water as the Sith's second smile took her face.

"Kirito…" Leafa whispered to herself, but Asuna heard the name as well. The Sith Lord thought she would be happy to have Kirito watch the death of a close friend, but once she heard Leafa say that name, and now that she had a face to match it with, her heart skipped a beat, and caused her to pull the blade from the defeated Jedi in a bout of sorrow and confusion.

"Agh!" Asuna clutched her own chest, as if she was the one faced with the injury. Kirito meanwhile stepped forward, but as he noticed the two fighters separate from one another, his eyes widened, and the tears fell as he finally saw the face of the player that took Suguha's life.

"Asu…na?"

She heard him say that name and realized no member of the Galactic Republic knew it. Lusac mentioned that she and the target Force Wielder were married in a past game, or maybe even in real life, but she had a hard time remembering Kirito's face with all the built-up pain swelling inside her chest.

Before anyone could react, an explosion shot out in front of Asuna, and forced her to draw up a shield to protect her from earning a second scar. The Pina flew through the trees and continued shooting at the monstrous Sith Lord as Klein opened the hatch and yelled to Kirito.

"COME ON!" Klein shouted as he waved to his friend. "WE GOTTA GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! THE EMPIRE HAS A HUGE ARMY TAKING THE PLANET!"

Kirito knew they just got back from destroying the satellite dish, but realized it must have been too late to stop the Empire from invading Alderaan. He grabbed Leafa's destroyed saber and ran for the Pina's door as Klein shut the blast shield after helping his friend fall on board.

Asuna waved the smoke away and stared up at the departing ship as more rage flowed through her veins. A call was coming through on her comms. device, but she ignored it as her mind still fell on the mysterious player who barely slipped through her fingers.

"Kirito…" She was not sad, but Asuna kept to herself, with an odd, emotionless tear forming under her right eye. "Who are you?"

Aboard the Pina, Kirito slumped over the games table and mainly kept to himself as the crew prepped the ship for an evacuation of Alderaan. Yui shot out her holographic body to sit beside her depressed father, and she leaned her virtual head against his shoulder. Silica had a hand on Kirito's shoulder, while Klein piloted the ship through the lower atmosphere and into the void above the blue-green planet.

"Leafa's dead…she took Recon too…she took them both…Asuna."

"No." Yui tried to interrupt her father. "Mommy would never do that. That mean Lucas kid is behind all this, daddy. Don't say mommy did this, because she didn't."

"Your little droid friend is probably right, Kirito." Silica felt very odd wording it that way. "If she really is that close to you in the real world, then it has to be Lucas controlling her mind or something."

"She's close to all of us." Kirito was upset to realize Asuna's fate in the Star Wars Universe, but tried holding his tongue as Silica and Klein had no reason to react. They were Asuna's best friends in the real world, like Kirito, but in this universe, she was only an infamous Sith Lord to them.

Silica still tried to lighten the mood. "Well me managed to take out the satellite dish! Thinker and Yulier had to drop down on a control panel at take out the insides. We got to them right before it blew, but they're back on beds trying to rest some of their injuries. Hopefully they'll be alright…"

The room started growing dim, but just then Klein ran through the main hull, and signaled to the pigtailed pilot.

"We're not out of this yet, guys. Take the wheel, Silica. I get the feeling you never use these guns very often."

Silica hated to admit it, but unlike Klein who was a little more oriented for combat, her ship was for stealth and true smuggling. She gave him a nod and stood up to run for the cockpit. Yui the droid followed after, but the hologram gave her father a quick peck on the cheek before disappearing to meet with Silica.

Kirito rubbed his hands through his hair, and followed Klein down a very familiar turret shoot, and slid into the bottom gun of the Pina as he noticed the ship was now well into space.

Klein manned the top gun, but both ends would come in handy as the war above Alderaan raged on. The Republic fleet was looking for a way to break the powerful Sith blockade, and the garrison fleet brought by Asuna from Korriban did not help the situation as hundreds of fighters flew through the space between ships and started picking off any small Republic flyers that it could.

The Pina's cloak required a charge up, and they needed clear skies in their view to activate the hyperdrive. It was up to Kirito and Klein to get them safely past the blockade and onto open space to make it back to Coruscant.

Mk. VI Sith interceptors swarmed the airspace surrounding Pina, and the twin guns above and below the spacecraft started sending rounds toward the Imperial fighters as they launched a barrage of blaster bolts back at the shielded, but slightly bulky freighter. Silica tried weaving through blown metal pieces from a severed ship, but it only shook about two or three enemies as the rest swarmed the Pina like bees on a hive.

Klein spun his gun forward to take out two escort fighters, which were trying to guide Silica to a path in their favor. Kirito kept his guns facing backwards as his rage induced reflection of the Alderaan fights made for good fuel when trying to shoot little flying ships out of the sky. Red bolts shot back and forth, which led Yui to pull up a 3D image scan of the entire battle for Silica's aid.

"Only Sith Dreadnaughts ahead! All the Republic cruisers are either gearing up for hyperspace, or they're being driven back to the planet!"

"Yikes!" Silica punched the button for her ship's cloaking device repeatedly. "Come on, Pina…come on!"

"You're gonna have to get creative, Pigtails!" Klein yelled through his intercom as he shot out one fighter, but missed two more as they chose to join the fresh dog fight from a nearby hanger. "We're not gonna hold together much longer through this space!"

"Pina is a good ship!" Silica argued back. "It'll get us to Coruscant, just you wait! And DON'T CALL ME PIGTAILS!" She zipped her cruiser through a ring of destroyed metal, and zig-zagged past other falling engines as the fighters behind her formed a figurate together to avoid shrapnel and shots from Kirito's leftovers.

She kept her hands on the controls, but held the sides of her eyes on Yui's map as she tried to chart her own escape route. The Pina twirled past a fiery explosion to the left, and it shot forward to destroy a distressed Sith cruiser in front of them. The fighters that lasted through Kirito's onslaught whooshed over their fallen flag ships, and instantly began shooting missiles to wear away at the freighter's shields.

"Don't let those hit Pina!" Silica ordered. "They're Ion shots! They'll damage our shields!"

Kirito took a deep breath and ignored the fighters behind him to settle in on the missiles, but even his steady Force sensitive shooting could not stop the little blue torpedoes from homing in on their target.

He tried to clear his mind, but just as the Pina took a hit from a regular red laser bolt above, a soft echo took his mind.

"Kirito…calm down, and take the shot again!"

"What?" Kirito ripped the mic off his head and spun around to catch that message again. "Sugu!? Where are…?"

"Kirito!" The distant voice of Suguha Kirigaya yelled at her stubborn cousin once again. "Just take the shot! …Use the Force!"

Kirito wanted to talk back to her, but then he remembered his flying scene with Klein over Ilum. He remembered turning off his targeting computer, and after holding his breath, and taking his time to aim with his thoughts and feelings instead…

"KIRITO!" Klein yelled as he started turning his own gun around. "JUST TAKE THE DAMN SHOT!"

 _*BANG!*_

Kirito blasted away two long range red lasers, and right as they smashed into the blue Ion torpedoes, a great explosion took out his visuals, and destroyed several fighters flying after the Pina. Silica used the distraction to roll her ship right, and spun it over a Sith Dreadnaught to aim the bow right for the stars.

"PUNCH IT!" Klein was not used to being second-in-command on a star ship and had to yell out his frustrated thoughts while Silica pulled down on the lever for the ship's cloak, and then moved her hand straight for the switch to the hyperdrive.

"Kirito…" Suguha's incorporeal voice returned to the heavily breathing savior. "This is going to sound super cheesy…but you need to find the Dagobah System…find it, and we'll meet again!"

"Dagobah?" Kirito took the strap off his body, but he stayed in his seat as he noticed the stars on the back windshield started to streak with a slow draw forward. "Yea, you're right Sugu…that is pretty cheesy."

A tear fell from his eye, but a smile stuck to his face.

Silica slammed on the hyperdrive, and Klein hollered like a cowboy in the wild west as he gave the Empire an inappropriate farewell salute from his gunner's seat, and the Pina zoomed into hyper space and out of sight from the dogfight over Alderaan.

* * *

 **Ya know? Star Wars has a series of repetitive traits and themes, but one that seems to travel through all three trilogies is the master of the main character always dies! Ben Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jin, Yoda, Han Solo for Rey, I really had no choice in Leafa's fate here. She had turned into Kirito's pseudo-master (apart from Kayaba on Mortis) so she wasn't meant to stick around.**

 **Besides, if Ordinal Scale can comfortably write her out of its story, then so can I!**

 **Anyway, new chapter when I can deliver. This week will be hell, professionally. It all starts though, with tickets to the Cleveland Browns hosting the Seattle Seahawks. Come on, Brownies...**

 **Until next time!**


	19. 18: A Dangerous Plan

**Author's Note: Back again! It's been a while, but the recent holiday here in the US allowed me to sit down and get some edits done for this chapter. Thus, chapter 18 is here!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Eighteen - A Dangerous Plan

* * *

"I'm going back to Alderaan. I'm going back to get Asuna."

Kirito was forced to sit in a lofty conference hall for his debriefing of his mission across the galaxy. While they successfully aided the commanders Yuiler and Thinker, the team overall met defeat at the hands of Darth Rosario and her auxiliary forces from Korriban.

Alderaan, in all her natural brilliance, was lost to the Sith Empire.

However, it was the Sith Lord herself that stole the show for the black swordsman and his crew. Taking the life of both Jedi Master Leafa, and her subordinate Jedi Consular Recon, this formidable enemy had another character trait revealed that left the hero of SAO ready for a reunion.

"So the Empire's Wrath is really Asuna…" Chrysheight leaned in a chair next to his commanding Jedi Master Amun-din, and tried to give Kirito a calm response. "I guess we would have seen it coming if we knew her name was Darth Rosario."

Amun-din kept her hands on her lap under the table. "She's quite the opponent. We only knew her through reputation as the Empire's Wrath, because every Jedi she met in battle…well…"

She never finished, because Kirito decided to speak as he got up to leave. "She's not some kind of monster. She's one of the most caring friends I know. It's all your brother's doing. He's manipulating her somehow, and the other girls."

Amanda sighed. "That makes the most sense. Once I discovered my soldier's memories were wiped, I tried treating them as regulars, and even let them know they were still in a video game. My brother on the other hand did all he could to convince his men that they were fighting for the real Sith Empire. Most of them have at least realized they're in the virtual world, but that probably makes it worse since now they value life in this game a little less than before."

It took as much strength as he had for Kirito to calmly turn around and join the others in a thorough conversation. Klein and the rest were still in the docking bay, but Agil stood in front of a window as the three others continued their council.

"So, what can I do?" Kirito truly wanted to work with Amanda, and he knew she would be his only hope to understand the situation. "I need to know more about the mechanics of this game if I'm going to get Asuna and the others back."

"I-I'm sorry, are you suggesting you want to try and convert them over to members of the Republic?" Amanda wearily leaned back. "I don't think we've ever tried that before."

"No, we have not…" Kikuoka leaned back as well, and put a finger underneath his chin. "I doubt we'll be able to switch their faction through a game command…but what if we just convince them to fight for us?"

"Is friendly fire enabled in this game?" Kirito turned to Amanda.

"Tha-at I'm also not sure of." She replied with hesitation. "Explosive damage affects everyone, but one-on-one attacks? I suppose we've never tried."

Kirito pulled out a lightsaber, and tapped Kikuoka with the tip of his blade as the Jedi Counselor shrieked and jumped out of his chair. "Hey buddy, what's the big idea!?"

"I wanted to see if I could hurt you." Kirito defended himself quickly.

Kikuoka rubbed his arm, and showed the grey character the difference in the colors of their two nametags. "Yea? We'll we're not a part of the same faction, are we?!"

The factionless Kirito replied. "Oh yea…well here, why don't you try to hit Amanda?"

Amun-din put a hand over her now smiling face. "Oh dear, you do seem to be in good spirits after all your conflict, Master Kirito."

The unintentional comedian Kirito sighed. "I'm just trying to figure out the mechanics of this game…It feels like I've been playing long enough to at least understand the Force, but nothing about it makes any sense. Why do I seem to be a total dummy with these concepts, but when I get really angry or emotional, it all just wells up inside me like a power boost?"

Amanda earned a quizzical expression. "You need practice mastering the Force…perhaps you need a Master to train you."

"I already tried that…" Kirito was reunited with his sour mood as he thought back to the death of his cheery cousin on Alderaan. "Besides…I'm not a Jedi. I don't think I'll find a trainer here on Coruscant."

Kirito stood from his chair yet again, only this time it actually seemed like he was going to leave. Chrysheight was tired of his uncooperative attitude. "Where are you going then? To practice the Force by yourself?"

Kirito knew Chrysheight wanted to debrief him alone, and thus knew his frustration was probably with Amanda and not himself. That being said, this was Kikuoka Seijiro. He never felt comfortable revealing too much information to the Ministry agent. "On the Pina, I heard a voice from Su…the person told me about the planet Dagobah. You know, the planet from the old movie?"

"Dagobah?" Amanda and Kikuoka both sounded out, but the former continued. "Dagobah…the planet that master Yoda trained Luke on. Kirito, you don't actually think Yoda is here in the game, do you? I'm sorry, but no characters from the original films are in Star Wars the Old Republic Online…"

"No, I don't need him. "Kirito tried to explain. "I just need to see what this planet is all about."

He left the room, and Agil finally turned to speak once the door shut behind Kirito. "So, he really wants to go to Dagobah?"

"No." Chrysheight shook his head. "Well, yea he wants to train there, but there's more to this…he wants Asuna back. He knows he's not a true member of the Jedi Order."

Amanda was starting to fear Chrysheight's intentions. "What are you trying to say, Master Kikuoka?"

The blue avatar Chrysheight stood from his own seat, and proposed what was swirling in his mind. "I think we need give Kirito a chance to reunite with something far greater than his old power...I need to speak with him alone."

* * *

Kirito hated doing things the "Jedi" way. He felt the route of being passive and calm during a time of chaos was a bad use of his energy. That being said, he noticed himself meditating several times after returning from the fights on Alderaan. He used it as a way to honor his fallen friend, Suguha, but also secretly hoped that it would be a way to channel her voice back to his mind.

"Sugu…" He sat alone in a mediation room that the Jedi had annexed inside the Galactic Senate. "I need answers…please talk to me again."

"You really are starting to take this game seriously, aren't you?"

Kirito broke his concentration, and turned with a sigh as the one man he was trying to avoid entered his chamber, and sat down cross-legged across from him. Seijirou Kikuoka then held his hands up in a mocking manner.

"Of course, I could see where one would get used to meditating like this day in and day out. It actually seems kind of peaceful in here."

"What do you want?" Kirito reluctantly asked his counterpart.

The Chrysheight avatar answered, even though Kirito's eyes were shut. "I'm not here for anything that _I_ want. I'm here to help get some friends of a friend of mine out of a corrupt video game. I'm here to help you, Kirito."

Kirito opened his eyes, and they did not appear to be happy. "Okay, so what do you want to help me with?"

Chrysheight leaned forward. "I think I might have a plan, and although Master Amanda in there didn't seem to agree with it…she may let us go through with it."

"What do you have in mind?" Kirito's arms were crossed, but his eyebrow slowly slid upward as he started feeling more and more intrigued with the agent's arrangement.

Kikuoka continued. "Well it's pretty obvious that the life of a patient Jedi doesn't suit the Hero of Sword Art Online. Face it, you have too much passion and heart to stay idle during a time like this. However, you're also caring and selfless, which doesn't lend well to being a Dark Lord of the Sith. Amanda has agreed to let you travel to Dagobah to…uh, find yourself? She thinks it may open your mind and avatar to understanding how the Force System works. However…"

He had to lean forward, and whisper the next part of his plan, which left Kirito very curious since they were in a room by themselves.

"Once you complete your training on Dagobah, you're going to travel to the Sith Empire, and save Asuna."

"What?" Kirito sounded totally blown away. "No, that sounds waaay too simple. What's the catch?"

Seijirou held up his hands and quickly retorted. "Kirito, I'm being honest! We use your weird, greyed out faction to infiltrate the Sith Empire, then your break down Asuna's evil persona, and any of the other players you find like Shino and the Lisbeth girl, and you try to bring them over to fight with us! O-or at the very least stop them from fighting against us. Take out their big players, if you know what I mean, while also saving your friends from future battles!"

"I wouldn't even know where to look…I mean my training at Dagobah could take a while. What if the Sith win the war while I'm there? What if Asuna dies in the fighting?"

"Don't worry about your time on Dagobah. Amanda lost Alderaan. She really has no time to act aggressive. Her defenses will have to be rebuilt first." Kikuoka then gave Kirito a shrug. "And after you get that training, you may be surprised at how quickly you find Asuna, even in such a big galaxy far far away from home."

"Yea, I don't really need the Star Wars jokes right now..." Kirito put a hand under his chin, and tried to make up his mind. "Let's say I go on this mission after I leave Dagobah. What's stopping Asuna from just slicing my head off?"

"I'm not sure…" Kikuoka admitted. "I was hoping that would be something you figured out on your mission. Klein said you are pretty good with mind manipulation. Perhaps since Asuna is being controlled by Lusac, her mind's strength is halved or something. That may make her easier to snap."

Kirito really thought to himself as Seijirou unloaded his plan on the poor boy. It was definitely a long shot, but as of right now, it was really his only option.

"I guess I'm okay with it, I mean it definitely beats sitting around here." Kirito nodded, and shook Chrysheight's hand. "I don't want Amanda knowing about the second half of the plan though, just the Dagobah trip."

"Oh no worries!" Seijioru was happy to hear that his good friend Kirito was starting to think like a real ministry agent. "As far as she'll know, you'll be training to fight along-side her stupid fake Jedi armada. We'll have ya smuggled on Dagobah with the help of Klein or Silica, and then the rest of us will worry about keeping the Empire at bay until you're finished."

"And what if Asuna comes to hunt me down?" Kirito asked. "If Suguha couldn't stop her, I'm worried to see how anyone else will fare."

"In that case…" Chrysheight stood from his cushion, and left Kirito to finish his meditation. "May the Force be with us all."

* * *

Kirito was ready to leave, and made his way for the luxurious capital hanger bay at the south end of the Galactic Senate complex. He was still wearing grey robes, and two silver lightsaber handles were hanging from his belt as the small droid, T7-UE trailed him from behind. He noticed a small group waiting at a unique fighter at the end of the bay, and he wondered why a group of familiar faces were all standing there to greet him on his arrival.

"Huh?" Kirito whispered quietly with only Yui to hear. "Why are they not prepping the Salamander or Pina?"

"I don't know." The robotic voice of Yui squeaked through without a hologram. "Maybe they need to repair them, or something!"

"Doubt it…well, maybe Klein broke his ship somewhere." Kirito tried to muster a laugh as he and his droid finally made it over to the group.

"There he is!" Chrysheight held a self-assured expression on his face. "The new citizen of Dagobah!"

Dagobah was an abandoned swamp system in the farthest corner of the galaxy. It had no known lifeforms, and the creators of the game only put it on the map as an Easter-egg. No one actually even knew if the system was really there, because no one ever decided on taking the long flight there on their own time.

Kirito hinted the sarcasm in his friend's voice, and ignored the hand that came to pat him on the shoulder. "Yea, well I hear it is beautiful this time of year. So, what's with the weird looking ship?"

It looked like a blunt triangle with two giant engines protruding out the back. It had a grey finish, with black and red stripes painted down the side.

Klein rolled out from under the engines, and cleared a cloud of dust off his face as he tossed his wrench aside. "Well, the hyper drive looks as fit as the 'Mander's!"

Silica slid out from the hull, and smiled with delight. "Yea! And I was able to replicate the same cloaking device from the Pina, and put it on here! Normally you'd just have to buy a new unit, but your ship is small enough I just designed my own."

"I don't get it, is this my new ship?" Kirito was still confused.

Agil nodded. "Yep. Ol' Klein and Silica here fitted one of our Liberator fighters with some new specs, and now it's all good o fly out in open space."

The Liberator-Class Starfighters were the backbone of the Republic's fighter fleet. They were the main defense for the Light Side faction against the Imperials and their Mark VI fighters, but they normally had to rely on Republic cruisers and heavy freighters for inter-galactic transport. Small scale fighters normally did not come equipped with technologies like a hyperdrive in that day and age but the engineer smugglers Klein and Silica figured out a way to merge their own master technologies with the Liberator.

"The Saber-Class Starfighter—the first of its kind." Amanda spoke with a soft voice as she watched her new acquaintance, Kirito, prepare for his launch. "I hope you have everything in order, Kirito. Dagobah is said to be an eerie planet."

"He'll be fine!" Chrysheight tried to reassure his technical Jedi Master. "He's only going for a few in-game days tops! He'll be back fighting for our cause in no time."

"A few days…" Kirito tried to play it cool. "Yea…trust me, when I get back, we'll be that much closer to getting out of this game."

Amanda failed to smile as she gave him a final bow. "And I hope you see that statement through. Goodbye, Kazuto, and may the force be with you."

Kirito gave her a salute, but soon after Klein wrapped up the poor fighter in a giant bear hug. "Don't go dyin' on me out there, ya hear? We gotta take the Salamander right to Dromund Kaas together by the end of this war. If I'm flyin' against the Empire, I want you on my guns!"

"I'll see what I can do." Kirito nodded, and turned to Silica. "Keep good care of Pina while I'm gone."

"Of course! It's still in the shop getting some minor repairs." Silica had no idea why her eyes started to tear up for this strange new addition to the Republic. She only met the boy Kirito right before their mission on Alderaan, but now felt sad to see him leave for a new mission on his own. "Try the cloak out if you run into enemy ships!"

"Yea..." Klein started to sound rather envious after seeing Kirito's new decked-out fighter. "I may have to get the Salamander one of those cloaking devices..."

Kirito gave them both a smile, and then took a hand shake from the much taller Master Agil. "No kidding, we'd love to see you in our final push for Dromund Kaas. Be safe, and may the Force be with you."

"And you." Kirito actually responded to that statement as he shook Agil's hand, and finally turned to Chrysheight.

"Well stay cool, Kirito. Don't crash the thing on your way out. Spend as much time as you need to on Dagobah." He gave the boy a secluded wink as he stepped back for launch. "I'm not gonna say it too, but…you know what I'm trying to say."

Kirito let a smirk pass over his lips, and signaled to Yui to enter the back hatch of the fighter. It left a small port for her head at the top, and just as the door to the hatch opened up, it shut even quicker as Kirito powered on the engines, and prepped for takeoff along his new trajectory.

Everyone in the group waved to the flying ship, all except for Chrysheight and Amanda. They both help wildly opposite expressions, and just then, the agent spoke to the GM.

"That boy is our last hope." Said Chrysheight, trying to mimic the iconic scene form the films in a slightly mocking manor.

Amanda never turned to acknowledge it, and instead spoke with a clear tone. "Is he our hope, or my brother's…I'd hate to miss him when he's finished up on Dagobah. I suppose he'll find Lady Rosario just like you two planned."

Chrysheight tried to hide his smile as the Jedi Master turned nonchalantly to confront him. "Tell me, if he turns to the dark side after your little speech in the meditation chamber, would that make you a traitor to my faction along with him?"

"Categorically." Seijirou Kikuoka spoke without missing a beat. "And what about your brother, or father? If Peter Mathis comes out of this game with a federal conviction, will his children be spared for taking part in his plan? I'm trying to shut this game down and log every player out of it...by any means necessary."

Amanda kept a passive Jedi's expression glued to her face, but hid her rising anger as she silently stormed off and toward the rest of the now departing group.

Kikuoka sighed by himself, and looked out toward the sky where Kirito's new starship was still flying toward the heaven.

"I hope the Force _is_ with you Kazuto Kirigaya…if it isn't, then we're all in trouble."

* * *

Now we find the villainous _Mother's Rosario_ dreadnaught flying through space with the rest of a still decent fleet as they continue to shoot down already destroyed Republic convoy.

"They're already destroyed." Officer Sinon ordered to the forward command as they halted their fire. "Send the fighters to the wreckage, and begin charting our course for the next Republic hyperspace lane."

The group obliged, but not by the direct order of the sniper or her subordinates. It was the menacing face of Darth Rosario that stood at the railing of the command helm with a determined look on her face as continued fire and explosions took the field of view over the blast shield. The fleet of the Empire's Wrath had already destroyed three fleeing star fleets leaving Alderaan, and were now taking out every single piece of the Republic Navy they could find in that corner of the galaxy.

"Asuna…" Lisbeth tried to step in. "They probably used hyperspace to get out of Alderaan after the battle. I'd bet they're light years away by now on Coruscant."

"No Lisbeth." Asuna never turned around. "He's not on his capital, anymore. I can feel it. Continue sweeping the space on this side of the galaxy until he comes up."

"But Asuna, they have a cloaking device on board, and that Jedi destroyed our tracker…"

"I want that ship, not excuses." Her posture did not change as her arms stayed settle behind the small of her back.

Lisbeth narrowed her vision, and failed to nod as she turned to redirect a new set of officers. Meanwhile, Asuna shouted over to the sniper. "Admiral Sinon, have the fighters clear a path by destroying any rubble with their blaster fire. We'll move along until they are found."

The recently promoted Admiral Sinon gave her a nod, but spoke once she felt comfortable enough to do so. "The fleet tried scanning the area, but nothing has been found just yet. We're worried they actually did make it to Coruscant by now. Whether or not Kirito is still with them though is iffy."

Asuna gave her the same attitude that she gave Lisbeth. "Alert the other captains, and calculate every possible destination along the trajectory between Alderaan and Coruscant."

Sinon obliged, but not after Asuna gave her usually silent admiral a stern glance, and a lasting thought to consider.

"I have the admiral with the most accurate vision at my disposal. If any pair of eyes can find this ship, it's yours. Don't fail me like you did on Coruscant, and find that ship at once."

Lady Asuna would find the boy Kirito, and kill all who helped him escape her grip back on Alderaan. She needed him in her grasp, and was more than ready to begin training a new, more worthy sub-commander for her slightly incompetent staff. She still felt loyalty for her Emperor, but she had her own plan to take the throne in case she grew bored. Having a powerful new apprentice to help her do it? Well, that just seemed logical for any cunning Dark Lord of the Sith.

* * *

 **So Kirito is going to the Dagobah system, then going to hunt down Asuna. Asuna is sending her agents across the galaxy to hunt down Kirito...agh, they need to just find each other at some point!**

 **So Act I of the story was the plot arc back in Tokyo and Mortis. Everything after Kirito met Klein in deep space up til now can be considered Act II. Act II will begin on Dagobah, and wherever the hell else our heroes find themselves flying around!**

 **Until then!**


	20. 19: A Bad Feeling

**Author's Note: Chapter Nineteen! Also, a reference to a memorable quote in the title!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Nineteen - A Bad Feeling

* * *

"You will receive a substantial reward if you find those smugglers and their cloaking ship. You are technically free to use any methods necessary, but I want them alive. No disintegrations!"

The bounty huntress Lisbeth scratched the back of her head as Asuna delivered her next orders from the Emperor. Lisbeth could not help but cringing though. "Yea sure…uh, why does this whole shtick seem really familiar? Like it's out of a movie or somethin'..."

No one had an answer as Asuna kept her eyes on the horizon. "Once the ship has been boarded, you will need to stun Kirito, and secure the other passengers in your brig for the return flight back to the fleet."

Lisbeth turned to address her close friend, who in return was not giving her full attention. "So, you want me to fly around the Republican side of the galaxy and find some random ship, that also has a cloaking device, apprehend the powerful Jedi kid Kirito on board, then secure the other passengers, and make it all the way back here with the ship and crew in hand? Geeze…this better be one hell of a reward."

Asuna finally turned around, and looked her ally in her pink eyes. "I need you, Lisbeth. You said the boy recognized you, and he's supposed to be my husband or something. I need to meet him for myself before Emperor Lusac gets a hold of him."

"Huh…" Lisbeth crossed her arms, and let a faint shade of red take her face. "Sounds like this is pretty personal for you and your...er, husband? Also, why is it such a big deal to keep him from Lusac? What are you tryin' ta pull here?"

Asuna put a hand on her friend's shoulder, and kept her stare firm. "Emperor Lusac will get what he wants…I just need to make sure I have a full grasp of the situation before anything unfolds. Now leave, and find me on your comms link if anything occurs. I have my own lead to follow with a different operative."

"Whatever you say, girlie." Lisbeth's charisma would be missed aboard the _Mother's Rosario_. Sinon held the same respect from Asuna, but Lisbeth's light-hearted attitude was well received by the other officers on the gloomy ship of the Empire's Wrath. That being said, she was not a field commander, nor an officer in the Imperial Navy. She was a bounty hunter employed by the Empire to deliver their needs, and get paid while doing it.

Her D5-Mantis was waiting for her in the command hanger bay aboard the _Mother's Rosario._ It's all-red finish was met with trimmings of silver, and hints of pink accents as its doors opened to let the deadly bounty hunter inside. The predatory ship was well-equipped with several large barrel guns, a sleek hull for faster space acceleration, and a unique outer design that relied on side foils to change the size and shape of the star craft, depending on the pilot's needs. She named it the _Blacksmith_ , and shut the doors behind her as she prepped the vessel for launch on her eventual lengthy mission.

* * *

Kirito took his star craft into deep space along the southern ring of the galaxy. His new fighter was well-equipped for inter-galactic hyperspace, but it was still small, and needed some extra efforts once he turned down his engines and settled into a normal flight pattern.

"Ma-an…" He felt a shiver run down his spine as he realized just how long he was in space. "No amount of artificial heat can help you in this sort of cold. They should warn the players the space feature is really accurate...and can be really cold in your own ship!"

His mind was taken away from the temperatures as a small green orb turned into a large mis-colored planet before his eyes. Tangles of green, blue, and browns enveloped the large rock before him, and his interactive dashboard listed "Dagobah" as the destination's name.

"There it is, Yui, the Dagobah System."

Yui performed a full scan of the planet, its in-game database, and an internet scan from inside the game as she replied. "It's said to be a swampy planet that may have been created by the Force itself. No intelligent lifeforms are present on the surface."

"Yea…but technically I'm not here to visit lifeforms." His mind slipped to the deceased Leafa as his fighter slipped through the upper atmosphere, and quickly hit a wall of thick fog. Flashing lights powered on the bow of his ship, which left Kirito to grab the controls and shake them for his dear life.

"Agh!" His ship was starting to tug on vines from tall trees as he tried to level out the ship's base. "Now I know how Luke felt in the movie!"

He switched on his low beams, and slammed down on a lever to release the S-foils on his ship, which opened up the triangular fighter like a pair of scissors, and allowed Kirito to cut through the vines and curve his ship up in the air.

He gave himself a smirk, and lowered the landing legs in anticipation for his decent, buy as the ship curved up, he then noticed an even larger swamp tree hanging with low vines right in front of his ship.

"Oh you gotta be…"

The ship shot through the first hanging layer of foliage, but quickly got stuck as it just hung in the trees like a kite stuck on a windy summer day. After Kirito turned the engine on high to try and burn the back section of the vines off, he kicked open the pod doors and jumped out to rest his feet on the swaying hull.

"This is just great." The rookie pilot sighed as he looked down below. "We're pretty high up, but I may be able to get myself down if I'm careful. You doing okay, Yui?"

"Oh yea, daddy!" The perky little droid swiveled her head in delight. "I'm just getting over your ridiculous landing style! It's quite funny to say the least!"

"Not helping, Yui..." Kirito pulled out one of his lightsabers, and started slowly cutting vines around his ship, but suddenly stopped once he realized her would fall with the ship. "Probably not the best idea from this point of view."

"Hmm…" Yui turned to look at her surroundings, and then landed on her father. "Perhaps we should try getting it down from on the ground. You could through your sabers from there, then use the Force to stop it from falling too hard."

"Yui, I can't throw my lightsabers and make them come back to me yet, and I certainly won't be able to stop an entire ship from falling!"

"Oh, but let's see if we can…!" Yui shot out of the fighter like a small rocket, but over shot her landing as she flew past the ship and down, to the murky waters beneath them.

"YUI!"

"DADDY!"

They both yelled out for each other, and Yui even tried turning on her jets to stop her from landing in the thick black waters below. However, as she turned on the jets, a small field surrounded her droid body, and an alert expression took the face of Kirito from above.

"Well, you must be the Mental Health Counseling Program: 001. An AI unit from Aincrad. I.D. Yui."

"Kayaba." Kirito steadied his feet as he noticed the Force ghost of Heathcliff from Mortis was holding Yui suspended in air, and as he brought her safely to the edge of the watery bog, the grey swordsman climbed down from his still hanging ship to meet his old guide. "What are you doing here?"

"Me?" Kayaba kept a soft hand on Yui's surface. "Why would I not be here? This planet is strong with the Force. It is one of the purest places in this galaxy."

"Yea." Kirito continued. "But how did you know I'd be here?"

"Kirito." Heathcliff smirked. "Haven't we gone over this? You are the one who chooses to summon me. It is through your memory that I show up in this game. Although, I am probably using some remnants from my memory burned onto the Seed system to appear in physical form."

Kirito sighed, and stat down on a stump next to Yui as he tried picking leaves out of her from her fall. "Well, if you're wondering, I'm not really any better off at understanding the Force than I was on Mortis. I do know I get really powerful when I feel emotions like anger and hate, but a few friends said that's not such a good idea."

"Hmm." Kayaba thought. "The Force is a powerful device if used correctly, but it can control the user if not. Emotions like anger, hatred, even fear may alter your skill level, but there comes a danger to that kind of power if used too often."

"Well, that's why I came here to Dagobah. I came to learn more about the Force. I've played enough sword-based video games to where I'm pretty comfortable holding a pair of lightsabers, but in order for me to be a better player in the Old Republic Online, I need to master Mathis's Force System, and this Force power used by Jedi. I want to save Asuna, and I want to save my friends."

"Selfless thinking is the way of a Jedi." Kayaba pointed out. "But thinking like that may also lead to greed. Showing a deep concern for your friends may turn them into a weakness, and that in turn can lead to the fear and anger we want to try and avoid."

Kirito hated the idea of his friends being a weakness in the mind of his old enemy, and stood after cleaning Yui. "Sure, but I'm not a Jedi. I just want to use the Force like on. If me using the Force like a Sith Lord brings this game to a quicker end, then I'll be happy to do that instead."

He turned to look his old rival straight in the eyes. "I want Asuna back, and I want to save my friends from Mathis and his company."

"Ha." Kayaba let out a small laugh. "The Vice-Commander's life is still that important to you. It's good to know things never change. This passion to save Asuna and the others may be the driving force that takes Mathis and Immortal Gaming down. Very well, we can start your training immediately."

"But I…" He looked around the blank swamp that showed no other signs of life, only the sounds of distant animals could give him any comfort to know this planet was inhabitable. "I also came here looking for a friend, they were supposed to help me…"

"Well, I never knew you thought of me like that." Kayaba smirked, and continued walking through the foggy swamp path. "Come, let's walk."

Kirito was growing more and more agitated with the elder game maker, but reluctantly followed as the giggling Yui trailed behind them into the dense fog of Dagobah.

* * *

Meanwhile, we come across the soaring _Pina_ as it passes up through the dense, wispy clouds of Coruscant. Silica relinquished herself to the co-pilot's chair, while Klein sat at the main control.

"So why do we have to use my ship, Klein? He's your friend after all." Silica sat behind some of the controls as she looked at her new pilot.

Klein switched on a new booster, and whizzed by a set of Republic cargo vessels. "Because mine's still in the shop after that crap from Coruscant. Besides, yours has that fancy cloaking device that lets us sneak around enemy lines. Also..."

The red-haired pilot turned to give her a grin. "Kirito said your one of his IRL friends too. I guess we all met in a game called SAO."

"SAO?" Silica tried to think for a moment as to what that game could be. He real life memories always faded away during her space travels through the galaxy. She could barely remember the faces of her family members, and virtually no remembrance of her school or friends came to mind.

Klein leaned back while the Pina flew through hyperspace and crossed his hands behind his head. "Anyway, Corellia is supposed to have the same technology you use for cloaking available for purchase. I figured I could buy some sort of adapter for the ol' _Salamander_ and bring it back to Coruscant for a decent upgrade!"

"Are you sure you can afford it after the repairs?" Silica slouched back into her seat and thought about her dwindling bank account. "My cloaking device nearly made me broke when I bought it last week. Even the converter I used to add one onto Kirito's little fighter cost a small fortune."

"Eh, I have my connections..." Klein winked and held one of his thumbs up. "That Argo chick and I had a chat before the Alderaan attack. She found a great deal for me on Corellia, and even promised to hold onto it while I made my way out."

"Really?" Silica scratched her chin. "Is that why she wasn't at the battle with us?"

"I dunno!" Klein slung his legs to the ground and went to grab a refreshment. "We've worked with each other in the past. She sort of owes me after a few missions."

"Hmm..." Silica stayed staring at the dazzling stars of light speed as Klein left her alone in the cockpit. She felt a weird tingle take her skin, and crossed her arms to wrap herself in a hug.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

* * *

Kirito sat at his crashed campsite with a meal cooking in a small metal pot over a wispy fire. The ground was too damp to keep it going forever, which meant he had to cook it soon, or eat his meal raw and cold. He tried to imagine himself alone, but was still paired by the ever-teasing spirit of Akihiko Kayaba and his easily entertained AI daughter T7-UE.

Kayaba nodded at Kirito struggling attempt to cook a small supper. "You're really going fast with your cooking. Learn to slow down. Patience is important, after all."

"He's right, daddy." Yui chimed in. "It's also important to make sure that you chew every bite!"

"Uh, duh?" Kirito ignored Yui, and pointed to the sky barely visible through the dark, thick overgrowth of the Dagobah canopy to address Kayaba's concern. "It's starting to rain. I want to eat this thing and hurry up with my training."

"Nonsense!" Kayaba waved the thought of rain away and gestured to the pot. "You need to eat slowly if you're going to start training all the way out here! We're in the middle of an isolated planet. No larger shops or restaurants can cater to you out in the swamps."

"It doesn't really matter since I've barely eaten anything since entering this lousy game...ugh why am I even bothering to stop and cook a damn meal! I need to figure out this stupid Force System and help Asuna and the others!"

"Daddy..." Yui's voice sounded softer as she rolled closer to her human father. "It took Mathis years to perfect the Force System. You can't expect to figure it out in one evening."

"I can if I want to save Asuna." Kirito spoke low, and let a small silence take the campsite before kicking the metal pot into the mud, and letting his barely warm food spill out into the bog. Yui rolled back abruptly to let him charge on, and just as Kirito went to grab one of his lightsabers, he held the blank handle over his head.

"Agh! I just...I just...I just want out of this game."

His knees slammed into the thick mud below, and Yui treaded through more muck to meet her father at his fallen side. A small tear rolled down his cheek, which left a very serious, almost scornful expression frozen on Kayaba's face.

"Hmm..." Kayaba sighed. He closed his eyes, and lowered his head in thought. "I cannot teach him. He's lost all his patience."

"Kirito! Don't listen to that! You can do this!"

"Huh?" Kirito felt a chill roll over his shoulders as the voice of his distant cousin crossed the campsite. "Sugu? Sugu! Was that you!?"

Kayaba ignored Kirito's rambling, and looked at his former opponent from SAO. "There's too much anger in his system. His impatience led him to find Asuna turned to the Dark Side, and now his anger will consume all his thoughts. He may be able to learn some Force techniques, but he will not become a Jedi."

"KIRIRO!" Suguha protested back. "You can't listen to him! You need to learn how to control the Force System, and use it like a Jedi, not a Sith!"

"Suguha?" Kirito asked again, with his knees sinking further into the watery dirt. "Are you out of the game? Did you log out after you died?"

"No, but I'm okay! I-I think?" The real voice of Suguha Kirigaya spoke with an oddity in her voice. "It's like I'm in some weird purgatory state. I keep phasing in and out of a powerful sleep, but sometimes I'm able to connect with you like this! I think my body is still in the Holocron unit, but my memory is back at least!"

"Sugu..." A small smile crossed Kirito's face as he wiped away one of his tears. "It's just good to hear your normal voice again. I-I'll get us all out of the game, I promise!"

"Glad to hear it!" She replied with a voice of encouragement. "But we've kept for a while now, a little more time isn't going to hurt! You have to listen to the creepy ghost guy. Be patient."

Kirito blinked. "Be patient. I really want to, to be patient, it's just really hard knowing what's happened to my friends. But..."

Kirito grabbed the lightsaber that he dropped in the mud, and placed it back on his belt as he leaned up to put his hand on Yui's robotic head. "But...I am ready to learn. I'm ready to learn about the Force."

"Ready?" Kayaba laughed out loud. "You're just like me, Kirito. We're too similar...A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. I watched you for a long time, now. In SAO, ALO, Gun Gale, and now here. You behave like I do. Too much wonder in your heart...too much ambition. People like us, we spend our whole lives looking away... to the future, to the horizon. We never keep our minds on where we are. Never on what we are doing."

Kayaba's mind drifted to an old scene from a more-than famous film from the 1980s. "Adventure...heh...excitement. A wise person once said...'A Jedi craves not these things.'"

"This isn't SAO. I don't crave those things anymore." Kirito stood up, strong and resilient now. He wiped the rain from his brow and turned to face the old ghost from his past. "I only want my friend back. I want us all to be safe and sound back in the real world. I'm not losing to Mathis, and I'm not afraid of what this game has to throw at me."

The ghost of Akihiko Kayaba laughed to himself, and raised an eyebrow as he looked at the boy who once sent his marvelous Castle Aincrad tumbling to the ground. He took a deep sigh once more, and looked Kirito right in the eyes.

"Not afraid, well that's good. Because you will be once you learn how to play the game."

* * *

 **1\. A little shoutout to Boba Fett and Vader in that first sequence...**

 **2\. Arrived on Dagobah, our hero has! Too many vines for one to land normally, yes?**

 **3\. "I have a bad feeling about this."**

 **4\. Suguha went full Ben Kenobi on our ass! Plus her memory is back! But how much help can she be in this form...**

 **The next chapter, we must wait for now. Until Then!**


	21. 20: Facing the Mirror

**Author's Note: Well I always like to make a comment whenever one of my stories makes it to 20 chapters, so yay!**

 **Side-note: The new season of SAO is very good, but can we just stop and talk about the Mandalorian?! Only 5 episodes in and it's becoming one of my all-time favorites.**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty - Facing the Mirror

* * *

Kirito performed several series of sprints through the dryer section of the swampland as he built up more and more of his internal power. His utility belt and shirt were lying on the ground next to Yui, while Kayaba stood next to them and observe the young Force wielder's training first hand. He would run back and forth, touching his half-exposed ship sticking out of the watery muck, and then sprint a certain distance to touch a tree, quickly running back to repeat the process. He tried to add five or so feet every time, not letting the dense fog or distance block him from going out further and further to different trees.

"Excellent, Kirigaya!" Kayaba's Heathcliff avatar had his arms crossed as he studied his protégée's work. "You're learning how to use the Force to find the ship even after you run out too far to see it. You're also learning to let the Force take over breathing for you while you focus on your endurance."

"It feels too weird, though." Kirito slowed up, and started to jog in his place as he looked to Kayaba. "I feel weightless, but my heart rate is still pounding like I've just run a marathon."

Kayaba smirked. "That's the Jedi's strength flowing through you from the Force. It's making things easier on your body, but it will take time to adapt to it. The power of the Force is a strange being."

He then turned to the shaded side of the canopy sky. "But beware of the darker side of that power. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force can easily come to your aid in a fight. It's very similar to what happened to you on Coruscant. If you start down that dark path too often, it will dominate your mind, and consume your free will. This is Emperor's Lusac's plan to control you, as he did with your wife."

Kirito stopped jogging, and took time to wipe the sweat from his brow. He turned to his would-be coach. "Asuna...is the Dark Side actually stronger though?"

Kayaba was disappointed in Kirito's lack of knowledge regarding the Star Wars franchise and its core films. "Of course not. As Master Yoda would say, it can be very seductive, but not all powerful."

Kirito nodded. "But how will I know when I've used too much emotion? I'm still human, after all."

Kayaba replied. "You will know... when you are calm, at peace, and passive. A Jedi should only really use the Force for knowledge and defense, NEVER for attack."

"Yea yea...Sugu said the same thing." Kirito rolled his eyes, and carried on with his dead sprints. He let his mind clear away from everything except the forest path. Fog and warm air surrounded him further, and his lungs cleared out more and more with every step he took.

He noticed he was still running, quite a distance from his furthest point already, and he had no visual signal of his camp or friends from where he was. But he was still running, still sprinting through the dense thickness of Dagobah with the Force propelling his every movement. His breathes were almost silent now as he allowed the swelling energy to take control, and just as he reached a new peak speed, his legs stopped at a dead halt, and a great black tree with a voided hole took his view.

"What the hell is this?" Kirito's movements slowed down, and his legs moved slowly on their own as he reached out to move a series of dangling vines from the black void looming in front of him.

"That place... is strong with the dark side of the Force." Kayaba stood behind Kirito now, he too left Yui and the camp back in the distance. It was only the two of them now.

The leader of the once proud KoB guild looked on. "It's a domain of pure evil. It seems to be calling out for you, as well."

Kirito felt a chill over his exposed chest, and stepped back a bit as his eyes widened to pure white and black. "What's inside? A-am I supposed to fight a boss or something? What's in here?"

Kayaba closed his eyes, and alluded to a famous scene from the galaxy far far away. "Only what you take with you."

Kirito stopped walking backwards, and grew a new spine as he reached for his belt. His lightsaber was still in the camp, and now Kayaba was far behind too as it was just Kirito at the entrance to the cave.

The dark energy of the cavern called out to the Hero of Aincrad and pulled him into its lofty black energy with no hint or strategy to give, keeping the secrets that it held safe from Kirito's grasp.

* * *

Klein was perusing the shops and kiosks in a slummy district of the mechanized port planet of Corellia. One of the founding worlds of the Galactic Republic, the brass world Corellia actually prided itself on its economic independance, despite Imperial and Republic intervention politically. Some of the finest starships in the Star Wars universe were made on Corellia, and it was additionally home to daring pilots and smugglers looking to explore, to trade or just stay ahead of the law.

The cities, like the people, were distinct to a tee. The planet incorporated a natural landscape into its metallic design despite being a heavy manufacturing base for shipping. Before the all-out PvP war of the galaxy broke out, the NPC Corellian government agreed to turn over power to the Sith Empire. This resulted with riots in the streets and open revolution from other NPCs, and eventually player characters.

Klein felt very comfortable roaming its busy streets and alley ways, however, and found time in a busy Republican schedule to come here and make deals for money outside his military career for the Light Side. He used to take Jedi Master Agil along with him, but the Jedi was too good at bartering that he would often steal deals from even Klein.

Silica trailed behind him, with a weary look posted to her face. She made sure to land the _Pina_ in a fairly crowded hanger to not attract any attention to their arrival, and even tampered with the ship's mainframe to scan the skies of the once proud Republican system.

"Man, I can't believe that _Pina_ thingy is actually the computer system on your ship! I thought it was your ride's name!" Klein picked up a set of golden twin blasters on a table, but kept his conversation turned towards Silica as he fondled the merchandise.

Silica sighed. "Yea, _Pina_ is just the computer system I had attached to the ship. The ship was originally called the _Cait-Sìth,_ but I changed its name to _Pina_ to avoid confusing myself."

"Eh, sounds hard to do." Klein looked down the barrel of a mint silver sniper rifle, and worried the merchant as he smeared his finger prints all over its chrome finish. "Anyway, did this place really look like it was crawling with that many Sith ships?"

"Absolutely!" Silica silently yelled, while also making Klein lower the barrel of the new sniper rifle. "Which is why I wanted to land us on the other side of the planet! You come here more than anyone else in the group. You had to know it'd get busy once the Sith finished assembling their fleet!"

"Yea, I guess I should have seen it coming!" Klein shrugged and laughed as he tipped the merchant for letting him handle the gun. He carried on down the busy street and put his hands behind his head. "It doesn't matter though. You took Pina with you from the ship to track the Empire's movements. You can scan the streets before we go down them, right?"

"Not if we're walking too fast!" Silica tried holding up a small light blue device as she let the Pina computer system scan the busy curbs, but she grabbed Klein's shirt as she pulled him back to her side of the sidewalk. "You said we'd be there in ten minutes!"

"Yea, from the ship." Klein flipped a golden coin with one of his thumbs high in the air. "I wanted to spend a little more of my campaign money before meeting up with Argo."

"Klein!" Argo yelled out from behind the two other smugglers and gave them a wave once they noticed her arrival. "Long time no see!"

"No kidding!" Klein skipped the pleasantries and put a finger into her chest. "Where the hell did you run off to before the Battle of Alderaan? You helped us get our ship all souped up, then vanished from the assault squad."

Argo raised two defensive hands in the air and smiled faintly. "Hey, don't blame me! A girl had her own mission to head off on once all that got started. Anyway, I'm glad to see you made it all the way out here. The Sith is crawling around this side of the galaxy after the Republic lost Alderaan."

"Yea, we know." Silica sighed and held up her mini-map from the Pina device. "Looks like a lot of them are refueling before another attack on the core."

Argo looked at the map, and blinked her eyes a few times before rubbing them at the sight of the tiny smuggler standing next to Klein. "Hold on, I thought you said you were bringing that friend of yours from the Alderaan fight?"

"Yea?" Klein looked confused. "Silica was with me on that mission. We used her ship to land on the planet, remember?"

"Y-Yea..." Argo scratched her head. "Hehe, sorry. I thought you meant that weird Jedi friend."

"Agil? Hell no! I never take him out this far after he stole all my sweat deals last...oh wait, you mean Kirito? Hehe, sorry, he's on his own mission for Grand Master Amun-din right now."

"Ahh, really?" Argo scratched her chin as she walked between the two smugglers. "That's really interesting. Anyway, come on. My hanger is overrun with Sith right now. We'll have to go in with stealth if we want to get your part."

"You already have his part?" Silica tilted her head. "Why aren't you holding onto it in your regular inventory then?"

"Too big." Argo tried to get her to stop talking as the rounded an alley way corner into a polished steel walkway that led inside an elaborate hanger bay. "Just keep quiet while we find my ride. I had to use a smuggled Sith Fury starship to get myself onto the planet safely. They think I'm some Sith worker looking to upgrade my ride."

"A Sith Fury?" Silica slowed down as the other two tip-toed even faster away. "That's the ship Sith Warriors use. You don't use a lightsaber though. Wouldn't it have been easier if you used Mantis instead...?"

"Agh, damn it, Silica!" Klein was trying to be nice, but they had just come to a slightly busy section of the hanger as he tried to keep her quiet. "Just drop it until we get out of here."

"There it is." Argo led the team through a twist of railings and cargo as the slick Sith warship sat at the end of their path. It stood on its own island pillar inside the hanger, with just the single bridge they were currently on acting as the only way into the craft. It had to be posing as a higher officer's personal ride, because the guns and outfits stationed on the outer hull were all end-game level equipments.

"That's a pretty sweet ride you conned your way into getting!" Klein whispered with excitement as he followed Argo to the entry ramp. "Must have cost an arm and a leg!"

"It would have." Argo grinned, "but let's just say I'm borrowing it for now. I had to make quite the deal for a mission recently that will make sure to keep my face off some wanted posters on both sides of the galaxy."

"But I don't get it..." Silica's skin began to shiver as her hand located a small blaster pistol strapped to her side. "Why would your face be on a wanted poster in the Republic?"

"Hmm..." Argo pondered that thought as the door to the vessel slip open, and a thick coat of steam rolled down the on-ramp. "Well, you're right. It might not be now, but give it time."

Kein and Silica both looked away from a smiling Argo, and just as the smoke cleared, a powerful Sith Lord dawned in crimson armor stood with two Imperial guards at the back end of the ship's entry way. Her eyes no longer fully matched the auburn color of her hair, and were fading into a deep yellow at this point while anger filled her pupils.

Klein pulled out his blaster, and fired several shots off to hit Asuna square between her eyes, but the mighty Empire's Wrath raised her curved lightsaber, and blocked all the shots at once. She sent two bolts back to hit Silica and Klein in their legs, then ran forward with the speed of light as she slashed the barrel of his long pistol clean off.

"Two smugglers, but no Jedi. Tell me...where is Kirito?"

* * *

Kirito climbed through several crevices of vines and foliage as he maneuvered his way through the dark cavern of Dagobah. He expected his eyes to fail him eventually, but the powers of the Force System gave him just enough light and focus to carry on through the dense blackness.

 _"I've lost my feeling of Kayaba and Yui, and I can no longer hear Suguha's voice inside my mind. This path just keeps going on forever, with no end anywhere in sight. It really reminds me of Luke in the Star Wars movie, but I just can't imagine how he..."_

Kirito wanted to keep his mind going, but he suddenly felt that the cave he was in had grown very humid and hot since he entered. He reached up and grabbed the front of his cloak to air out his outfit, then realized that his outfit had changed entirely since entering.

 _"Woah, wait a minute!? I'm in my SAO armor! How in the hell did I...?"_ He reached back to find the _Elucidator_ and _Dark Repulser_ strapped to his back. He took the long-lost swords from his back, and studied them briefly before moving on through the overgrowth at his own pace.

Kirito slashed through more vines to come across a clean grey floor in an empty room filled with a tall, vaulted ceiling. Several bodies lied motionless on the ground, and his mind warped to a horrible reality as he now stood in a once repressed memory.

 _"This is the Boss's chamber on Floor 75. I'm in Aincrad right now."_

"No Kirito, that's not fair! You can't do that, it's not fair! NO!"

 _"Asuna!?"_ Kirito's voice was trapped inside his mind, but he heard a paralyzed Asuna yelling at him from behind as he tried to remember the scene in its entirety.

"Hmph. As you wish."

That was Kayaba's voice. Kirito turned back to find the fully decorated Commander Heathcliff from Sword Art Online issuing a command to remove his personal barrier before their faithful duel at the end of SAO. Kirito gripped up on his swords, and let the commander draw his divine blade before moving in for a repeated strike.

 _"Not this again. I'm not losing Asuna twice in a row like this! I'M NOT GOING DOWN TWICE LIKE THAT!"_

Kirito charged forward in an impossibly powerful momentum as he bombarded Kayaba with an unstoppable flurry of slashes and strikes. The sound of their totally normal swords bashing against one another was replaced by the sound of lightsabers clashing to an empty void. Kayaba, Asuna, the other bodies made no other sound. Kirito could only hear the sabers and his own breath pounding as he beat Kayaba's sword and shield into an oblivion with every strike he made.

Anger and fear from before boiled up, and cut the great shield of Heathcliff in half, and the sword once called the _Divine Blade_ was broken in two as well as Kirito used his over-powered duel-wielding skills to strike a final blow to Heathcliff's heart, and shoved him into the ground to claim a victory.

Kirito took several heavy breaths as the shield of his enemy collapsed over Kayaba's face, and the black swordsman almost toppled over as he used the two swords to prop himself to his feet. Kirito then tossed the two swords aside, and fell to his knees right beside Akihiko Kayaba's fallen body.

The black-haired Hero of Aincrad took several moments to collect the scene, then removed the fallen, broken shield from Kayaba's face to reveal a spitting image of himself dawned in Heathcliff's armor lying cold and dead on the floor. The corpse of the faux Kirito then exploded into millions of blue diamonds to signify a death inside SAO, and while Asuna and the rest of the faded memory exploded in the same sequence, Kirito leaned back, and fell backwards into an empty void.

He truly hoped to return to his real-life body back in Tokyo, Japan, or at least to the dingy black cavern alone on the planet Dagobah.

* * *

 **Ah, Kirito experiencing the Dark Side tree cave on Dagobah has him revert to memories of the floor 75 fight vs Kayaba. Also Klein and Silica just got Lando'ed by Argo. Asuna cool as always. Chapter 21 probably Monday or Tuesday!**

 **Until then!**


	22. 21: The Force Within

**Author's Note: Chapter 21 has more training from Kirito. Lots of Empire Strikes Back vibes here.**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty One - The Force Within

* * *

"Concentrate."

Akihiko Kayaba was still serving as Kirito's coach of the Force on the isolated system of Dagobah. The musty bogs of the swamp planet were still hot and dreary, but all was still and quiet in the jungle as the prodigy Kirito took this time to work some meditation into his routine.

"Collect the entire scene in your mind, do not focus in on one object until you've gathered the feeling of all that is around you."

 _"All around me..."_ Kirito mused inside his own head as his eyes remained shut for meditation. Wisps of wind and small energy would swell through the campsite as Kirito channeled what he could, but nothing too powerful overcame the group as he still kept his energy low, and his focus intact.

"It's so easy...it's too easy! This planet is brimming with energy. It's like a hack or something!"

"Dagobah is strong with the Force in the Star Wars Universe." Kayaba admitted. "I do believe Mathis added it as an Easter egg planet for only those players worthy of what it has to offer."

He watched Kirito channel all the energy he could, and was also surprised that the boy's young droid friend remained silent and vigilant during the session. The master crossed his arms, then raised an eyebrow for his next command. "Once you've gathered the Force around you, learn to single out a specific target. Channel all the energy between you and that object, then rework the living Force that surrounds it to favor you, and draw the item in."

Kirito's arms were out now, bent at a rough forty-five-degree angle toward the ground. His palms were flat face down, and energy swelled beneath his feet as he tried to gather the space around him through his internal vision, not his natural sight.

"An item...my lightsabers." He pinpointed the first purple lightsaber at his fallen belt beside a stump to the side of the camp. It had been there for several days now, untouched. He felt no need to use it until he learned a few tricks with the Force System, and now it was time to call his weapon to his side.

Kirito raised his right hand, and lowered his left. He had two lightsaber handles, but felt it would be best to focus on only one this time around. His arm was out to his side, and pointing at the belt with the hilt sticking out of the shallow mud. His arm wavered for seconds, swelling both from the energy, and his exhaustion.

His hand shook more rapidly, and his arm swayed violently as rage built up in his head, and finally he threw his arm down, shouted in anger, and slowly sat down beside his droid, Yui.

"I-I can't...I can't do it. I try focusing on the Force, and the object, but I just can't do it...I need a cheat code or something."

"Don't try, just do." Kayaba smirked with an amused expression. "You always envision an outcome of failure. Just ignore all routes except the one where you grab the lightsaber."

"That's easy coming from a ghost." Kirito leaned back on his elbows. "If you're so smart, why don't you try doing it."

"I could, but that would prove nothing." Kayaba nodded. "It'd be no different for me to do it, after all...for like the wise Master Yoda, my ally is the Force. This game created such a fine system for it to thrive in. Its energy surrounds us and binds us to its operating system. This game operates unlike any other title in the Seed. Simple binary language of coding and scripture? No, no this is a far greater energy..."

A breeze whirled in around Kayaba as his outstretched hands came up to collect its brilliance. "You must feel the Force around you! Between you, me, the tree, the planets, other players, everywhere...Even between your hand and your lightsaber."

"It's just too...silly for me to gather." Kirito sighed. "I figured out the magic and flying systems over time in ALfheim, but I'm a melee guy. This is just too mystic for me to comprehend."

Kayaba scratched his chin, then grinned. "Fine. Then why don't you simply treat it as just a bunch of coding and digital language then?"

"Huh?" Kirito sat up, and looked over to his mentor with a puzzled expression.

Kayaba shrugged. "Your mind operates like mine. We see the digital landscape far differently than other people do. If you can't feel the energy of the Force System as some mystic power, then treat it as a GM would treat changing the code for their game files."

Kayaba turned to walk away from the camp, and never leaned back to look at Kirito. "It's like you said, just pretend you have a cheat sheet...er, or a cheat code."

"A cheat code..." Kirito let Kayaba wonder off, and let that thought sink in his mind. Yui started to light up, and fizzle with excitement.

"Go on, Daddy! Kayaba is right. You can master this game if you just treat it like a game. Not like the real Star Wars universe."

"I'll tr...I'll do just that then. Thanks."

Kirito stood again, and slowly walked out to the middle of the opening. He turned to face his fallen belt, with both lightsabers still exposed for him to see. He closed bis eyes, and once again channeled the energy around him to gather control of his setting. He took many deep breaths, and envisioned the swamp not as a scene from a video game or a movie, but as a unit with several individual parts made up like a giant numerical map.

 _"Concentrate...concentrate."_ Kirito let his images sit it, and allowed more wind and energy to swell between his legs and up his body. He felt a gust lift his bangs, but did not move an inch as the cracks of the game's facade were starting to break in his favor.

He slowly lifted his right hand, and focused on the in-game item that was his right lightsaber hilt. Rain slowly passed through the canopy above, but even the heavy droplets did not faze him out of focus. He kept his mental sights solely on the hilt, and even made it wiggle around once or twice even at its far distance.

Kayaba watched the tiny Yui light up with more energy as her father made the weapon jiggle around the belt, and decided to stay and see what would happen. A smile crossed over his face, but this amusement was far different than anything he ever experienced in his own world of Aincrad.

The master gamemaker spoke with a soft whisper. "Kazuto Kirigaya: Master of the Force."

Kirito never opened his eyes, but suddenly felt a surge of power draw the lightsaber from his belt on the ground, and brought it to his open right hand. He grasped the metal hilt with his fingers, and powered it on with a whip to the side, finally holding it over his still shrouded eyes. The brilliant amethyst color lit up against his face and the rain, and after lowering it to his side, he raised his left hand, and brought the other saber to his presence as well.

He gave the two sabers a couple test swings, then threw the right one like a boomerang at a nearby tree. The strong blade cut through the trunk of the tree like it was made of fine silk. The lightsaber then swung around, and returned to its owner's hand, ready for a second strike to take place.

Finally, with Yui cheering, and Kayaba nodding with approval, Kirito opened his eyes, and delivered a long-awaited smile of confidence.

"Alright. Now let's see what else I can do with the Force."

* * *

"AGh!"

Klein's head shot up with a throb of pain. His body was tilted at a fourty-five-degree angle, and his limbs were strapped to a table of sorts as his eyes wondered around a dark room.

"What the hell is going on...that lousy bitch...did Argo betray us?"

"No. She's an Imperial Operative."

Klein heard doors open into his chamber, and was quickly greeted by an ornately decorated, and rather youthful looking Sith Lord lined with crimson and white on her armor. A small cloak skirt hung from the back of her waist, but the top of her outfit decorated her as a powerful war veteran.

Asuna looked at Klein with narrowed eyes. "She was only playing the part as a Republic Smuggler. A very valuable asset to my team."

"Agh, okay then..." Klein's eye's raised as he looked to see the attractive young lady presiding over his interrogation. "If I get to be your prisoner right now, I think I can handle this..."

Asuna shot out a small bolt of lightning to hit him in the chest, which caused Klein to stutter in breaths, and cough twice before coming back to the room.

"Urgh...eh, point taken. Where's my friend, Silica?! What'd you creeps do with her!?"

"She'll be next, if I don't get what I want from you." Asuna admitted. "Argro said you have a direct connection with the player I'm looking for."

"Kirito..." Klein muttered to himself, then raised an eyebrow. "Listen, Lady, I have no idea where the greyed-out kid is right now. He's on a special mission for the Master. I was just coming here to get parts for my ship."

"Exactly." Asuna took over. "Parts for your ship that you need after running around on missions...with Kirito."

She drew closer to his body, and leaned over to look him in the eye. "You apparently know enough about Kirito to say he's on a special mission. A player that has the attention of Peter Mathis...and he picks you as his best friend."

"Picked me?" Klein was starting to grow uncomfortable. "Listen, he said we know each other in the real world. We all play other games together. Me, him, Silica...even you."

"I'm not listening to your filth." Asuna snapped. "He's not my husband."

"Hehe...I never said anything like that?" Klein awkwardly admitted. "He's super crazy about finding you too, though. Maybe just wait it out, and while you're at it let us go too!"

"He's looking for me?" Asuna leaned back a minute, and felt a small vein protrude from her forehead. "If he only knew what I had in store for him..."

The Lady of the Sith leaned in again, and held an open hand over Klein's exposed face. She channeled all her anger and rage into her mind, the split her focus to gather what she could from her captured pet. Klein was forced to lean into her hand through some sort of gravitational pull, and felt his head throb again in pain as he tried keeping his mouth shut.

"You went back to Coruscant with him...you sat at a debriefing meeting with Amun-Din, but left in the middle of it...you purchased a new ship for Kirito...and..."

She was starting to crack the code, but just as Klein opened one of his eyes in agony, Asuna's eyes lit up with shock and awe. A series of wild flashbacks hit her mind all at once. Battles with Klein, and Kirito in a giant floating castle. She and a group of other players fighting virtual beasts in the open squares of Tokyo. There was a girl with white hair singing over a balcony as they all fought. Next she saw a giant white tree looming over a great green field of fairies...and a small house, alone on a lake. She and the others were celebrating a gathering of some sorts there, but she...she and Kirito...

"AGH!" Asuna swung her hand away from Klein, and ripped several medical devices from the wall in the process. She turned from the prisoner, and powered on an automated interrogation droid to torture him some more.

"I'll leave you alone. I have what I need."

"Hey wait, AGH, don't just leave...AGH!"

Asuna passed out of the interrogation room, and walked down a dimly lit corridor with Argo and Sinon meeting her from behind. "Kirito's on the Dagobah System. He's probably gone there to train his abilities."

"Oye, that's fine and all, but I want my reward!" Argo chimed off as they made it to the open hanger.

Asuna never turned around. "Oh trust me, I plan to make you the personal informant to the Emperor after this. All you have to do is retrieve Kirito for me on Dagobah, and..."

"Hold on!" Sinon slammed her foot down. "You sent Lisbeth on that retrieval mission. She's still out serving you as we speak. Make sure you give her just as big of a reward for all this."

Asuna still kept walking. "At one time, Lisbeth served her use, now she let Argo claim her prize. It's not my fault she couldn't find what I asked for in time."

Sinon yelled at her superior. "That's not fair at all! If you send Lisbeth to get that kid, she'll do it in half the time. You owe her that much at least!"

"Owe her? For wasting my time on Coruscant?" Asuna stopped, and turned to look Sinon in the eye as her left hand settled on her lightsaber hilt. "Or perhaps you truly do think she's being treated unfairly?"

"Ehrr..." Sinon tensed up, and remembered that she and Lisbeth took far too long, and took too many resources on their mission in Coruscant for Asuna to be proud of either of them. She could feel the fire coming off her Sith Lord supervisor's presence. "Well, that's not what I..."

"Good!" Asuna turned once again for the final time. "It would be unfortunate for Lisbeth to face a punishment for your insubordination, _Admiral._ "

Sinon stopped dead in her tracks as Asuna, Argo, and several guards mounted the Mother's Rosario for take-off, and she let the steam in her veins subside as she pulled out her comms link. "So, the kid's on Dagobah...I wonder how far Lisbeth is from that dreary rock."

* * *

Back on Dagobah, Kirito was meditating at the campsite, with his legs crossed as he sat in the center of the clearing. His hands were flat on his knees, and the air around him was circling with rocks and branches.

Kayaba studied the channel of energy, and provided his own enlightenment. "The Force System allows players to wield insurmountable power over the dimension of space in this galaxy, but it also unlocks a unique ability for especially gifted players...the command of visions."

"Visions?" Kirito silently whispered back.

"In a way." Kayaba nodded. "You cannot control these visions, but you can use ones from the present to locate what others are doing at the same time you are. It allows you to essentially watch any player you want as if they were streaming their content for others to view. In battle, this can even be used one step further to predict your user's movements and abilities."

"Sounds valuable." Kirito continued to channel more and more energy as he listed to Kayaba calmly. He also tried tapping into this visual weapon mentioned by his teacher.

The Heathcliff avatar carried on. "Yes, but this can be a very quick path to the Dark Side of the Force System. Lusac is one person who has mastered these abilities, as has his apprentice. She sent spies throughout the galaxy to find you, and bring you to the Emperor."

"Asuna...she's...looking for me?" Kirito quietly asked. "I can...I can see her...angry."

"Absolutely." Kayaba replied. "You're her key to ending this war."

"And she's my key to getting out of this game." Kirito sent a vortex of air flying through the treetops, and stood from his spot as he looked over to his master. "I need to find her. I'm leaving for Korriban."

"Korriban?" Kayaba said with a nervous hesitation. "That's the home of Sith players. The Vice-Commander will surely be there."

"Exactly." Kirito retrieved his belt, and finished off the rest of his uniform as he went to set Yui up for the flight. "If I find her on my own, I may be able to crack her mind control and snap her back to reality."

"Kazuto!" The voice of Suguha Kirigaya returned to the camp, and she sounded very nervous to hear him leave. "Don't go in too early! Asuna's setting up traps for you. She's still controlled by Lusac!"

"She's not evil, Sugu." Kirito turned to look at the sky. "You know that, and I know that. She's our friend. I'm getting her out of this game, and ending all of this."

"Don't give in yet!" Suguha pleaded. "Don't stop your training too early!"

"Listen to your family, Kirito." Kayaba pleaded as well. "You've only begun to fully understand the Force System in its entirety. Don't leave before it's too late."

"I've got what I need already." Kirito smiled, and raise his hands. He violently pulled the half of his fighter ship that was submerged in mud out from the water, and in an impressively swift movement, set the spacecraft down carefully on the cleared open ground.

"I have just enough control over this system to beat Lusac, and Amun-din, and Peter Mathis too. I'm going to save my friends."

"You tried that, in Aincrad, against me." Kayaba was referring to their escape from SAO, and his ability to defeat Heathcliff and save the other players from their trapped virtual state on Floor 75. "Learn from your mistakes. Think back to Aincrad, and even the vision you suffered in the cave."

"I've suffered a lot of things." Kirito set Yui into her spot, and boarded his ship. "But I've learned a lot too. Aincrad, ALfheim, Gun Gale, The Augma, The Force System. I've overcome too many obstacles to let this one stop me. I'm saving my friends, and ending this nonsense once and for all."

"Kazuto..."

Kirito stopped prepping his ship, and turned to see a blurry blue image of his cousin, Suguha Kirigaya standing next to Kayaba. She had something shining of her cheeks, which almost looked like tears.

"Don't lose yourself...you're the only one in the group who came in without losing your mind...don't give in to hate."

Kirito gave his dear cousin a smile, and a final salute before taking off. "I won't. I promise, Sugu."

The door shut on the outside, and the engines to his Liberator-Class starfighter powered on, and sent Kirito to the stars on his next, and possibly final voyage.

Suguha's ghost was fading out of the game, but her hand still reached up to wipe a tear from her cheek. "Why is he always so reckless...he's the only hope they have to beat this game."

"No." Kayaba admitted with a small smile on his face, and started to fade with Kirito's younger cousin. "He'll have his friends...that will be enough."

As Kirito shot through the stars of Dagobah's outer sky, Yui decided to finally voice her own opinion on the matter. "Daddy, I sense a large fleet of Empire starships flying towards Korriban...please don't do anything to hurt Mommy."

"I won't, Yui." Kirito switched on the engines to power his own hyperspeed, and looked to his tiny mini map one last time. "I'm going to use her to help get us out of this game."

Flying right behind Kirito's fighter, was a Mantis-class stalker ship, and this crafty airship barely managed to pin a remote tracker unit to the back of Kirito's hull before watching it shoot off into the endless void of stars.

"Thanks for the tip, Sinon." Lisbeth switched on her own hyper drive, and set her course for Korriban. "Okay, Kirito...I have you now."

* * *

 **Uh-oh, Lisbeth managed to find Kirito. Let's hope she's not as useless as Boba Fett! Yea...you heard me.**

 **The Force Ghost Suguha is very interesting. Just to be clear, the ghost of Suguha is her human, real black haired version. She also has no memory loss, but she's 100% trapped in the game and cannot do anything to help the others.**

 **Do all people using a Holocron device turn into Force Ghosts when they die? We'll have to find out next time! or later...**

 **Until Then!**


	23. 22: The Prize Has Arrived

**Author's Note: No special notes today. It's cold!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Two - The Prize Has Arrived

* * *

Kirito flew through millions of stars, and shot from the void to meet his targeted planet of Korriban on the outer rim of the Galaxy.

"We're here, Daddy. Planet ID: Korriban. Home world to the Sith, and starting planet for new Sith players sensitive with the Force."

"Glad we made it." Kirito replied sarcastically. "I wonder what kind of fire power this home base is holding."

Yui ran a secondary scan of the planet's surface. "It's home to the Sith Acadamy for new acolytes, the Valley of the Dark Lords great temples, and an extremely large garrison of Sith Empire ships that arrived back from Alderaan and Corellia."

"The fleet over Alderaan..." Kirito remembered seeing the large, imposing group of Empire ships wreaking havoc and destruction over the core world of the Republic. "...She has to be here."

"I'll run a player ID scan too, but since I've never actually ran into Mommy myself, I'm not sure it will be easy for me to..."

 _*BLAST*_

A great power shook the small Liberator-Class starfighter, and a red alarm sounded in the small cockpit as Kirito switched on the reserves to his shields. "Yui, what the hell was that?"

"I'm not sure, Daddy. I'm scanning the area for...Daddy, a D5-Mantis Patrol Ship is following us from behind! It's a _Bounty Hunter!_ "

"Agh great...looks like we have our work cut out for us."

Meanwhile, Lisbeth was seen giggling like a maniac as she sent several large green laser beams right for Kirito's hull. She weaved through a series of asteroids with Kirito, and tried to follow his every move to get her closer for the kill. "Asuna would probably be mad if I shot her prize out of the sky like some lousy bird, so I better get him closer to the planet's surface and let him crash over the mountains."

Kirito let his instincts take over, and passed through giant space rocks and broken ship debris as Lisbeth trailed right behind unleashing her never-ending onslaught. The green lasers zipped by his ship and onto the dreary orange rock looming in the distance, and several imposing Imperial freighter ships were docking on and off the evil home world. Kirito did not want to attract any other ships to his presence, and as a result tried to keep his flight path secured to just the asteroid fields.

"Okay, Yui. This is gonna be really dangerous but I'm going to need you on high alert while I try and navigate through the asteroids."

"Understood." Yui calmly replied. "The Mantis is approaching at a 50% speed increase from behind, and you have several larger rocks coming up on your left."

"Got it...ugh, this person has pretty good aim." Kirito had to admit it as several more shots landed on his hull, and if it were not for his shields being up, he'd be flying into the oblivion of space by now.

He had no idea a very close friend of his was on the other side of the controls for the Mantis, and continued flying for his own safety as Lisbeth stuck to him like a magnet to metal. She powered on the extra set of engines to either side of her craft, and shot two homing missiles toward Kirito in an attempt to damage his shields.

"Uh-oh, missiles incoming!" Kirito noticed his in-cockpit alarm going off, and saw two projectiles approaching from the rear.

Yui made a note of this. "Right, swerve into the larger asteroids to the left, and try to find an opening on their surface. We can fly low over the surface of the rocks to keep from getting hit out in the open."

"Agreed!" Kirito retracted the wings of his Liberator ship, and turned into the speedy V-shaped position as he barrel-rolled into oncoming asteroids like a mad man. Lisbeth tucked two of her outer engines in, and zipped by the rocks to follow him along a trench. She shot of several more warning shots to the sides of a cavern that Kirito elected to travel inside, and left the missiles alone to hit their target.

Kirito tried swaying the movement of his ship to shake the missiles, but their heat sensors were still stuck to his trail like a dog to a meal. He performed a corkscrew spin to leave the cave exit, and shouted out to his droid assistant for help.

"YUI! Shoot the back flairs, now!"

The droid obeyed, and sent off several red flares to hit the missiles, and caused a great explosion to hit between Kirito and Lisbeth's ships. The Mantis swerved around the mighty fireball, and Kirito zipped closer to the planet as his next destination was so close to his reach.

"Come on come on!" He murmured to himself with the clutch all the way forward on his control. "I need to get to the surface! I need to find Asuna!"

"DADDY! SONIC CHARGES!"

Kirito turned around to catch two blue glowing balls attach to the rear of his ship, then felt the power go out in his Liberator-Class starfighter as the bow of the craft turned for the gravitational pull of the planet. He tried regaining the controls to his ship, but felt his Liberator turning into a fiery torpedo every second in its decent. He wanted to reach Korriban's surface, but not at this pace.

"Yui, Yui! I'm downloading your file onto my comms link. We'll leave your droid form for now!" He finished taking her soul from the body of the trapped T7 unit, which made no protest as the sonic charge shut her down too. Kirito then kicked open the cockpit to his craft, then powered on an escape button that mechanically launched his chair and a parachute into the orange clouds of Korriban, and sent the Liberator Starfighter crashing into the dreary rocks below.

Kirito let his chair land on a nearby hill, then removed his straps from the chair to run for his fiery ship. He tried to find the body of the T7-UE unit, but only found it smoldering in ash and flame among the ruble of the craft.

"Glad I was able to get Yui out of her droid form. I think I can get her a new one if I return to Coruscant."

He also noticed a red glowing ping coming from the back hull. It was a tracker, probably placed there by the bounty hunter in the sky. Kirito slashed it off with his lightsaber, and broke the tracker before carrying on into the warm dusts of Korriban on foot.

The Valley of the Dark Lords was a true horror of a sight to behold. Large browning temples shaped as pyramids scraped the orange clouds of Korriban, and anti-air craft turrets dotted the ancient sites all throughout as Kirito tried to perform his own surveillance of the canyon walls.

Kirito managed to sneak over toward an open hanger tower, and noticed several Sith Warriors talking among themselves while he waited patiently behind rocks on the hill. He held his comms link to his ear to amplify their voices, and channeled the Force to hear what they had to say.

"Yea, rumor has it the attack on Tatooine isn't even bad any more. Apparently, they're still calling for more reinforcements though!"

"Well duh! That Sith Lord Trentyn is trying to get the Empire's Wrath to go to Tatooine with her garrison. Not sure why, but you know it never ends well when those two meet up."

"Trentyn? The Wrath...Asuna?" Kirito tried to decipher the trooper's language, and pulled out a small disc that now contained the soul of Yui.

"Hey Yui, run a background check on a player with the ID Trentyn. Imperial."

"Got it." The small hologram that sprung up from the disc put two hands to her temples, and closed her eyes to scour the game for information. "ID: Trentyn. Sith Warrior-Marauder Class. His real name is Trent Bishop. He's a personal friend of Luke Mathis, and employee for Immortal Gaming."

"Trent Irven. So, he's the Emperor's closest buddy...I wonder how he feels about Asuna being in charge of him."

"Tch, why the hell would you care?"

"Huh? Lis...?"

 _*SMASH*_

Lisbeth took the butt of her rifle, and smashed the back of Kirito's head to knock the boy out. Yui screamed frantically for a moment, but Lisbeth shot the disc projecting her soul, and turned her off for good. The feisty Bounty Hunter then took Kirito by an arm and a leg, and tossed him onto the back of her speeder bike at the other side of the hill.

* * *

Asuna Yuuki sat in her office chambers with several guards, along with an impatient Argo and a very passive Sinon standing at her desk.

"I searched Dagobah, ma'am. The kid was nowhere to be found. The place was empty!" Argo sounded mad about wasting her precious starship fuel to check Dagobah for signs of Kirito, but kept her anger to a minimum around her new employer.

Asuna tapped her fingers against her desk top. "He's moved on us. I wonder if his Force abilities have improved that much. Could he be tracking us from afar?"

"We can keep several Bounty Hunters focused on finding the missing kid, but for now we need to get our next assault ready for the Core." Sinon tried to reason with her liege. "The fleet is loading up supplies and soldiers from the academy, and can even stop off at Dromund Kaas before we pick our target in the Core region of the Galaxy if you'd like."

"That sounds fine and all, but I want Kirito found. I'll abandon my goal for taking the Core in order to find the Emperor's prize."

"Don't go givin' up anything just yet, Girlie. Lisbeth's gotta special delivery!"

The three Sith leaders turned to find the office doors roll open, revealing a very smug Lisbeth saluting her overseer in the third-person.

"Lisbeth." Asuna secretly had faith in one of her closest confidants, enough to where she knew all about Sinon alerting her to the news of Dagobah. "I take it you surveyed Dagobah for me as well?"

"Eh, sort of..." Lisbeth snapped her fingers, and made way for two blacked-out guards to escort a captured Kirito into the room. His head hung low, and his hands were bound by cuffs in front of his waste.

Argo and Sinon's mouths were both agape, and Asuna's golden/brown eyes opened wider than ever as she slowly stood from her chair, and kept he full sights on the boy prisoner. Kirito stirred in his broken slumber, but finally shook himself awake as he found four very familiar faces awkwardly looking at him from his shackles.

"I found you...Asuna, it's me, Kirito."

Asuna stood still in front of her new prisoner for a short period of time, then snapped to her three assistants. "Leave us."

All three girls, and the several guards posted around the room nodded swiftly, and darted out the room to leave the husband and wife alone in the office. Lisbeth left a black box on Asuna's desk, and the Sith Lord quickly opened it to find the broken disk, a comms link, and two lightsaber hilts.

"ASUNA!" Kirito shouted at her very loudly. "Look at me! It's me, Kirito!"

Asuna's eyes had been open all the way, trying to capture everything she could just by her sight. Then the Empire's Wrath slowly turned, with her vision narrowed in a slight annoyance. She walked forward, and looked her captive dead in the eye. "The Emperor's Prize. Tell me, when did you meet with Peter Mathis?"

"I met Mathis after I logged into the game." Kirito tried to let his Jedi training calm his blood as he spoke truthfully with his beloved wife. "I spawned away from everyone else. On a planet called Mortis."

"Mortis?" Asuna sounded disgusted. "You must see me as some kind of idiot, I take it?"

"No." Kirito explained bluntly. "You're Asuna. We have faith in one another. You have no reason to think that I'm lying. We're like a tag team."

She got closer to his face, which really let Kirito study the soft mustard shade of yellow taking her eyes. The Sith girl carried on. "And what's all this nonsense about you being Asuna Yuuki's husband? I hate being called that name while inside this game, you know?"

Kirito was growing even more frustrated than she was, but did an excellent job at holding it in for the time being. "We met each other in another video game called Sword Art Online. You were, well coincidentally, second-in-command of the most powerful army in the game. I was...eh...even more coincidentally, a loner who helped other factions clear dungeons and beat bosses."

Asuna rolled her eyes. "And what, Lisbeth, Argo, Sinon? Were they there too?"

Kirito felt like he was starting to get somewhere. "Yea, yea! Well except for Sinon. I met her in a game called Gun Gale Online."

"I know it." Asuna replied. "It paved the way for this game. I've only played it once or twice."

"Interesting..." Kirito caught that as a clue. "So, you can remember games you've haven't played in-depth. What about ALO?"

"The fairy game? I have distant memories of playing it. Just names of things...it led to the Seed system too."

"Right!" Kirito stepped forward as Asuna turned away. "We're like a big family! You me, Lisbeth, Sinon. My friends Agil and Klein, Silica too!"

"Don't tell me you're referring to Jedi Master Agil?" Asuna rolled her eyes again. "I'd like to have a meeting with him before this war comes to an end...and your friends Klein and Silica? Funny you mention them. They're actually above our orbit in the Korriban Space Station right now."

"What!?" Kirito stepped back in shock. "Did you capture them!? They're your friends!"

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about." Asuna scoffed, defiant and resilient in her answer. "I'm the Empire's most powerful Sith Lord, and I play with the Dark Side faction. I have no friends in the Republic."

Kirito wanted to bite his tongue, but his anger was starting to show.

"And what about _Leafa?_ Do you remember her?"

Asuna raised an eyebrow, and turned to see the fire in Kirito's eyes. She let out a tiny smirk, and remembered back to Alderaan. "The Jedi player from Alderaan? As a matter of fact, I do. She was one of my toughest opponents to date. It felt more than satisfying to put my blade through her chest..."

"Gssh..." Kirito's hands were balled into fists as the metal cuffs were starting to cut circulation to his wrists. Asuna then gave Kirito her full attention, and put a hand on her curved lightsaber hilt.

"If I remember correctly you fell in tears when I killed her...was she one of my so called 'friends' as well?"

"AGH!"

Kirito charged forward, and Asuna stepped to the side and let him plow into her sturdy desk. She managed to cut the cuffs from his hands, and left him to lie next to his box of supplies.

"Take your weapons. I want to see this for myself."

Kirito grabbed the two handles from the desk, and powered on his purple blades. Fire blinded his view, and instantly he turned to hack and smash Asuna's lightsaber in an instant duel. Asuna continued to smile through the onslaught, and managed to hold off all his attacks very effectively as they both backed to the center of her chambers for the remainder of their skirmish.

Kirito spun several times to mimic his Aincrad swordskills, and tried to disarm Asuna in the fastest way possible. Asuna, meanwhile, studied every move the boy Kirito made with precision. His stance, his sways, the Force swelling inside him. She was more than intrigued with his fighting abilities, and slowly saw why Emperor Lusac valued him as a player.

They came together as Kirito crossed his swords, and Asuna stuck her blade in their center as she leaned in. "The Force is more than strong with you, Kirito. You're an impressive player."

"AGH! SNAP OUT OF IT, ASUNA!" Kirito yelled at her through their dual struggle. "You're being mind-controlled!"

"And what am I supposed to do about it!?" Asuna yelled back, sounding equally as angry. "I can't remember any of it, so why should I try now!?"

"Because...!" Kirito was being pressed back by her advancement. "Immortal Gaming is using you all for their plans! You need to snap out of it and help me beat Mathis!"

"You need my help?" Asuna scoffed. "If you need me to help you beat Mathis, then I don't see why Lusac holds so much value in you as a..."

"AGH!"

Kirito separated their lightsabers, and sent out a violent shockwave of energy from his body, quite similar to the time he sent the bullets back at the Imperials on Coruscant. Asuna flew back, and performed several acrobatic flips through the air before landing swiftly on her feet. Her eyes were wide with awe as a great surge of Force power resonated from Kirito's stance.

The Black Swordsman from SAO charged forward with his two sabers in hand, and raised them above his head to strike a dealing blow to the mighty Sith Lord. Yet as he got closer, Kirito's eyes froze on Asuna's face.

For once, the face of the Empire's Wrath looked terrified for the fate of her own life.

Kirito had no desire to cause any harm to Asuna in that state, and lowered his weapons to his sides. Asuna quickly acted on the situation, and dropped her saber to the ground. She used her Force skills to tear the purple blades from Kirito's hands, then sent a power volt of electric energy through his chest, and forced him to his knees in defeat.

Both warriors were breathing heavily after the battle, and as Kirito's numbed hands grazed the floor of the office, Asuna stood while keeping her eyes locked on the dangerous prisoner, as she used her telepathy to grab a set of cuffs hanging by the door to the room.

"You really are a monster...and strong with the Force...I think you're ready to study the true nature of the Dark Side."

* * *

 **Lisbeth displays some bounty hunter prowess.**

 **No Yui!**

 **And FINALLY the two lovers reunite! Asuna senses much fear and anger in Kirito, but unlike the Jedi Leafa, she knows what to do with it...**

 **Until next time!**


	24. 23: The Sith Academy

**Author's Note: Idk the exact reason why, but this chapter felt the most "Sword Art Online-y" to me when I wrote it. A lot of the other chapters I wrote like scenes from the Star Wars movies, but this one I came from the direction of an SAO episode/scene. Anyway enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars".**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Three - The Sith Academy

* * *

"Absolutely not. The Sith Academy will no longer take new recruits into its halls at this time."

A pair of imperial guards stood in the office of the Sith Academy Headmaster. Darth Barristan had done a fine job at ushering in new Sith recruits through the campus on Korriban before letting them fight in Emperor Lusac's war, but now that the game had stopped accepting new players for a short period of time, he was ordered to stop admitting acolytes for the time being.

Kirito was away in a holding cell while two guards from the Empire's Wrath Office were sent to speak for his case. He had no real desire to enter the academy anyway. He simply preferred spending time alone in a cell away from all the distractions.

One of the guards spoke again. "Lord Barristan, you have been ordered by the First Imperial Legion to admit this last soldier for screening into the Imperial Academy. It is with the upmost importance that this player is granted entry."

"And why is that?" Lord Barristan protested while filing a stack of papers on his desk. "He doesn't even have a faction. I have no message from the Emperor to admit this child into the service of Our Lord."

He had also seen Kirito that morning in his prison cell, and made a note of the boy's skin looking like the same color of his grey trappings. "Besides, it looked as though he'd taken part in his last fight already. Our army has no need for a boy of his stature."

"I disagree." The office doors opened, revealing the Empire's Wrath, Asuna Yuuki. "I'm not sure you fully understand the potential this student will have."

"Lady Rose?" The Sith Lord Head Master sat up in his chair, and put his papers down to deliver his full attention. "I'm glad to have received you and your request, but I'm afraid that Emperor Lusac would not want this boy to fight in our army."

"The Emperor was the one who put me in charge of locating him." Asuna declared. "I'm admitting him into your academy through my own recommendation. In fact, I'm so confident in his abilities, I believe one duel assessment is all he'll need to fight for the Empire. That and a chance to hunt down his own lightsaber."

"One assessment?" Darth Barristan was growing testy in front of his superior. "You want me to accept this Kirito into my academy, and pass him after one single test fight?"

"I do." Asuna grinned, and turned swiftly for the door. "And I'd like you to be his test administrator."

"Me!?" Barristan stood up with offense. " _I'm_ the one who proxied _your_ exams! I'm not fighting a new recruit I know nothing about."

"You will do just that." Asuna let the door open, and left him in his anger. "I'll gather an audience for the dueling chambers. We'll see you this afternoon!"

"Insolent little brat..." the elder Barristan had lost most of his respect for the Wrath in that moment as the gloomy Kirito was now named to fight him in a duel. The Dark Lord stood still, and looked down at his paper work with deep disdain.

"Alright boy. I'll see what you can do on a dummy before I take you into the arena."

* * *

Silica sat alone in an empty cell, with Klein next door aboard the Sith Space Station looming over the planet Korriban on the Outer Rim. She was trying to power on a small device that held the internal computer known as Pina to scan the space station's map, but she had received no luck ever since being moved from Correlia to here.

"Come on, Pina! You have to work!"

"Kid, they probably jammed the signal in these rooms. Or there's some code that stops items from working." Klein laid back on a cot bed in the next-door cell as he listened to Silica's whimpering. "Face it, we're just going to have to wait for the Republic to win the war, or for the Sith bozos to kill us."

"How can you say that?" Silica yelled back. "We have to help Master Amun-din and Agil win the war. Plus, those creepy girls are all looking for Kirito. We need to find him before they do!"

"Yea, that is true..." Klein felt slightly concerned for his bizarre friend Kirito's safety, and decided to guess how long it had been since he left for Dagobah. "Well I mean come on! Kirito might have left Dagobah by now. He could be one step ahead of those gals!"

"I hope he is." Silica sadly admitted to herself. "I'd hate to be the reason he gets captured."

"Nah, you had nothing to do with it, Silica. It's all on me." Klein rolled over on his cot and stared at a wall. "I was the one who brought him into this mess in the first place. Kirito's one hell of a fighter, but I hope he can use the Force well enough by now to get himself out of trouble."

"Hehe, well I really hate to burst your bubble there, tough guy, but Kirito is all ours now."

Klein sat up from his bed, and Silica ran over to the bars on her cell to look at the guests greeting the two of them at Klein's door. It was two players, a Bounty Hunter named Lisbeth, and an Imperial Officer named Sinon.

"You! Klein pointed at the pink-haired bounty hunter. "You're that nasty girl who tricked me on Coruscant! YOU BLEW UP MY SHIP!"

"No way!" Lisbeth howled. "That was your lame ship!? Man, this is a small universe. Ta think I could have killed you in that explosion, then you would have never been able to lead me to Kirito."

"No!" Silica yelled out. "You have to let him go! He's your friend in the real world!"

"We know." Sinon awkwardly admitted while looking toward the ground. "According to the Emperor, we all play with one another in other games. Things change in the world of the Old Republic, I'm afraid."

"Why?" Klein stood from his cot. "Why does it have to be like this? Look, I can't say I recognize the two of you either, but something inside me just feels familiar talking to you. I can't quite put my finger on it..."

"Ah, stop giving me that load of crap!" Lisbeth yelled out as Klein was trying to reach her. "You're Light Side, we're Dark Side. This is a PvP war. It's game-on until one of us wins this thing, and right now your side is looking pretty sad if you ask me."

"Precisely." Sinon agreed. "Plus, we have Emperor Lusac's weapon now. It's only a matter of time before we win the game."

"And then what?" Silica spoke with watery eyes. "What happens when one of us wins the war. Have you guys ever asked your Emperor that?"

Both girls were silent, and let Klein take over his partner's thoughts.

"No kidding. Amanda tricked us into fighting her war at first, but she came out pretty honest about everything soon after. We know we're all fighting to get back to the real world. What the hell are you guys trying to win here except fame and glory?"

Sinon remained still and Silent, while Lisbeth walked forward, and looked right into Klein's very angry eyes.

"What we fight for isn't your concern, Smuggler. Right now, your only goal is to rot away in this cell until your screen switches to Game Over."

Lisbeth stormed off, and Sinon slowly followed behind as a series of guards trailed the two commanders, and left Klein and Silica alone with one single sentry standing between their cell.

"AGH!" Klein punched a railing on his prison cell, and Silica began tinkering with her mechanical toy once again as she tried cracking the code to getting them out.

"Klein...uh can you keep it down...I'm trying to concentrate on...er, something!" Silica tried to keep her words coded as she looked down at her tiny Pina device with no luck coming out of her effort.

Klein spun around and slid to the floor as his hands crossed over his knees. "Sure kid, go crazy on your little toy there. We're not getting out anytime soon, unless that stupid Pina device can mimic the cloak on your ship."

"Well I doubt that's possible, but I went ahead and made sure to recharge the cloak on your ship!"

Silica's ears perked up, and Klein raised his head as he heard a very high-pitched voice laughing underneath the Imperial guard's helmet stationed outside their cell doors. The guard unclipped the chin guard, and revealed a medium-length head of golden blonde hair framing a youthful tan face with a smile.

"Silica! I can't believe I found you here!"

"Alicia!" Silica ran toward her gate as the so-called Alicia unlocked her cell, and quickly undid Klein's, letting the captain of the Pina continue. "I can't believe you're here at Korriban!"

"Shhh!" She laughed as the doors unlocked. "Don't speak so loud! I'm still undercover on that mission from Amun-din. Her teleport code really is a work of genius! I've been here for a week taking info from the Empire!"

"Well, what do ya know." Klein laughed too. He did not know it at the time, but Alicia was actually another comrade of theirs from back in the game of ALO, fighting for the Cait Sith race in ALfheim. "That's a new way ta smuggle information."

"It's what I do, handsome." Alicia winked at the two fellow smugglers, then tossed them imperial issued pistols as make-shift weapons. "I'd say most of your stuff is still aboard the _Pina_. It's in Hanger 12. The Imperials knew you cloaked your way through Aldreaan, so they decided to bring her on board after all."

Klein took two guns from the smuggler girl, and tucked them away in his belt, while Silica stuck with one and held it high in defense as they followed their savior Alicia around the corner and on to the hanger bay. They emerged, but stopped swiftly behind some crates as the superior Lisbeth was talking with an Imperial guard outside the Pina's entrance ramp.

"No!" Silica shook her gun with anger. "She better not mess with my controls!"

"Not good..." Alicia looked around to see if there were any closer ships to their area. "Your cloak was the best way for us to get out of here. I guess we can try to find an Imperial ship to sneak out..."

"Not gonna happen." Klein stood, and reached for one of his guns. "I've taken that ship on too many adventures lately against Silica's request. I'd hate to be the reason she loses it for good."

"Klein..." Silica let out a smile, and stood with him. "Thank you."

The cocky smuggler nodded, and then looked to his allies. "Silica, keep an eye out on our rear flank. Alicia, you keep an eye on the guards standing beside our old friend..."

* * *

Back at the Sith Acadamy, Master Barristan had left Kirito with a testing dummy to practice his swings alone in a single chamber. Kirito was rather dull at the moment, and let the academy's droid do all the talking.

"There is a certain appeal to Lightsabers. It is an all-cutting weapon. No matter what part of the blade you touch,it is going to cut something." The droid powered on its electro-covered arms to defend itself from Kirito's test swings. "It's an item of _martial prowess_ ; you are skilled enough to wield a weapon only a fraction of the Galaxy could use."

"I don't need trained." Kirito said with an expressionless attitude. "I've mastered all my weapon skills. I've even killed people who use lightsabers too."

The droid remained smug, and started to deliver more lines. "Well that _is_ what a lightsaber is, a _weapon_ ; it is an item designed to kill other people. It is usually designed to resemble a sword, although there are several different variations on it which I may very well go into during the duration of these activities."

"Ugh..." Kirito's wit was slowly returning to him as his blood began to boil.

The droid carried on, and held its electric hands up in angles. "Like with real life weaponry, there are differing views and designs on how to use them effectively. Every feint, every dodge, every block is a trap to the unwary. First, we'll go over _Form I_ , known as the..."

 _*SLASH*_

Kirito decapitated the head from the instructor droid, and turned off his sabers as he went to do the same to the chamber door. "Yea, I'm not here to learn how to fight people. I'm here to learn how to save people."

Now, inside the grand Sith Academy Arena, a very concerned Darth Barristan stood alone at the center of the grounds while a small crowd eventually turned into quite the mass, because Korriban in its normal state had appeared to be quite a boring planet to be stationed on.

Asuna emerged from a door on the other side of the arena, and a passive Kirito walked behind her with his head hanging low and a set of cuffs locking his wrists. Two guards followed them in, and gave time for Barristan to clear his throat before greeting his next opponent.

"Player Kirito, in accordance with a request by Darth Rosario...I have been assigned to proctor your entrance exam into the Sith Army, to join the Dark Side on our fight for control of the Galaxy."

The crowds cheered, and Asuna let out a small grin with her arms crossed as the quiet Kirito stepped forward. Barristan nodded to the guards, who promptly unlocked his cuffs, and handed him two purple lightsabers for the duel.

He was surprised to already see a clear difference in Jedi and Sith philosophy. Suguha would never let Kirito use his lightsaber for training unless he begged her to. Darth Barristan gave Kirito a bow forward after turning on his single lightsaber, but looked up in anger as Kirito took his time to respond. The black swordsman awkwardly caught on, and took a bow for his opponent, then powered on the derelict purple lightsaber blades at his side.

Kirito channeled a dozen different duels from his past inside his head as he prepped for the readied Darth Barristan. His fight with Heathcliff in Collinia's glorious arena, the duel against Eugene over the fields of ALfheim, his one-on-one skirmish with Death Gun in the Battle of Bullets with Sinon aiding him from a distance. He tried remembering all the different single fights that he had inside the virtual world, and picked them apart quickly to find useful pieces of information for his current situation.

Kirito favored his speed above all, and moved first toward the tankier Darth Barristan. The Sith Juggernaut had modeled his build after several powerful NPC characters from the main game storyline, and held up his single red blade to counter Kirito's flurry with a few calm parries.

Barristan grinned, and saw the fire grow in Kirito's eyes as each violent slash waxed with more and more heat and pressure against his own lightsaber. "You're an angry one, aren't you, boy? Something on your mind?"

"Nothing worth telling you!" Kirito found time between his attacks to reply back, and squeezed in a few breaths to keep the assault up on high.

The Headmaster howled. "Well keep it up! Let that hate and anger grow inside you! Use it to defeat me! It's you're only way out!"

"I don't want out!" Kirito sharply replied. "I came to Korriban by choice."

"What Republic scum would come to this dreary rock on their own choice? Drommund Kaas is far more...oh, I forgot, you hold no faction."

Their skirmish broke, and both fighters shot back as the Dark Lord carried on. "So why would a factionless fool wonder out to this planet on his own mission? What were you trying to find?"

"..." Kirito collected his breath, then looked forward with bangs dangling over his furious eyes. "I'm here to get back something I lost."

"Hmm?" Barristan studied the boy for a moment, then looked over his shoulder to find the Empire's Wrath grinning with her arms crossed over her Dark Side chestplate. He studied the two figures for a second, then laughed to himself yet again.

"Oh? You know the Wrath? A friend from the real world?"

"What?" Kirito stood up from his lower stance, but kept the anger firmly in his eyes.

Barristan slashed his saber outward. "You're that boy who was sent here by Peter Mathis! Emperor Lusac said the factionless boy would come to save his wife. You know Lady Rose from the real world. It all makes sense now!"

Darth Barristan put both hands on his lightsaber handle, and powered on a field of dark red and black energy underneath his feet. "Strike me down to save the girl! If you fall, she's lost to the Emperor forever!"

Kirito felt the world around him grind to a halt at the Headmaster's threat. His eyes widened, and all the people and noises froze in place, but he wondered all that time if Asuna could hear their conversation.

It did not matter though, for the sake of ending the fight. Kirito closed his eyes, then opened them up to reveal a black energy radiating from his body. The frozen energy that surrounded his meditation quickly captured Darth Barristan, and locked the great Sith Lord in a solid stance like a statue trapped in time.

Barristan's lightsaber was raised over his head at that time, and it was in this stance with a face of fear and confusion that froze for the entire audience to see. Asuna's smile grew infectiously as her brown and yellow eyes opened with intrigue. Kirito bolted forward, and took his two purple lightsaber's to the gut of his enemy, slicing the man's body in half, and killing him to end the duel.

The Sith audience roared with applause, and the guards behind Asuna quickly charged forward to seize the young Kirito as the boy fell to his knees and dropped his weapons from his hands. The each picked up one of his purple lightsabers, and sliced them into pieces with their own blades. Asuna came forward soon after, and brushed the guards aside, quickly grabbing Kirito's right hand to raise him to his feet.

She held their united hands up high as the crowds grew louder, and while Kirito's face was stolen by the confusion of the scene, Asuna's eyes filled with rapacious greed.

"You're my key to defeating the Emperor." She whispered to him quietly as the voices of Sith fans drowned out the stadium. "Together, we can rule the Sith Faction and win this war once and for all."

* * *

 **I remembered! I used inspiration from a few scenes in SWTOR at Korriban, but my main inspiration came from the sword academy in the Alicization arc of SAO.**

 **Anyway, new chapter soon. Until then!**


	25. 24: The Weapon of a Sith Lord

**Author's Note: Ahh! My last workday before the 2 week holiday break! Going to watch the Rise of Skywalker tomorrow...no talking to me about it until then!**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Four - The Weapon of A Sith Lord

* * *

Asuna and Kirito flew along a short distance of the sandy landscape of Korriban as their skiff shuttle passed down into the Valley of the Dark Lords. Powerful swells of the Dark Side of the Force could be felt in this lowly sector of the planet, and clouds of sand and dust formed in high columns to force out the basic players scurrying around the tombs down below.

Asuna Yuuki, however, was not a basic player, and it was here that her plan would unravel into its next leg. She was taking her captive new friend to the Tomb of Naga Sadow, an ending point for beginner Sith Warriors before they made their way off the oppressive landscapes of Korriban. In contrast to the Jedi forge of Tython, this was the tomb where Sith players were forced to steal their lightsabers from the graves of fallen Sith. This was her plan for her newly acquired ally.

She awarded Kirito the red lightsaber of Darth Barristan after his victory in the Academy Stadium, but noticed he would require another blade to make up for his broken purple sabers lost after the fight. She took note of hid emotionless acceptance of her gift.

It was well known that Kirito had spent most of his time in this game with players on the Republic faction, but she could feel the anger and fear resonating inside him. She had to capitalize on this power before her master obtained it for himself. Asuna Yuuki was ready to win this game in the name of the Dark Side, but some feeling inside her had possessed her to overtake her own master and Emperor for the top seat on the Sith Empire, and lead her people to victory without him. She needed a player of immense power to make that dream possible, and Kirito showed more promise than most that she had already seen.

Which is why she was taking him to the tomb of Naga Sadow. To set foot in the tomb of Naga Sadow was to breathe in death itself, as the Sith had spoken for many years in their own lore. This tomb was old and decrepit, and provided a student of the dark side with the perfect ambiance to acquire their new role as a servant of the Sith Empire.

"Here's the entrance to the tomb. It's very close to the Academy." Asuna was proud to admit as the shuttle stopped off at the doorway to the Sith catacomb. "It's a waste of resources to walk across this ugly planet even when the tomb is the next-door neighbor to the academy. I prefer to take a skiff any time I can on Korriban."

Kirito could sense a bit of arrogance on her voice as the closest confidant to the Emperor. She had every right to refuse walking anywhere, but he also knew laziness was not a trait that Asuna's possessed. He followed her reluctantly over the ancient stone steps of the burial chamber, and also made note of how few player characters hovered about the grounds.

"You're wondering where all our players are." She was very good at reading his thoughts at this point. "We're so far along with the war, most of the players on our side have already passed through the beginner levels, and are all helping us in battles across the galaxy."

Kirito remained silent, but remembered even seeing a fair amount of beginner players training and exploring the fields and hills of Tython back in the Republic. The Sith had cracked the code in efficient fighting styles, and apparently had also figured out how to motivate their players to fight in the war at a much quicker pace.

"It's just mind control." Kirito said blankly. "Your Emperor's just tricked the whole faction into doing his bidding."

Asuna held her head down, but continued to walk forward. For finally making him talk, she did not appear to be happy. "All's fair in love and war, right? If the Emperor brainwashes his troops to do what he wants, then it sounds like a winning option to me."

"Even when you're one of the people whose trapped inside the spell too?"

"Bite your tongue." She retorted with a sharp hiss, never turning around. "You don't know what I have in store for ending this game."

"I know you were once a powerful commander in a game just like this, only you fought with good in your heart, and not blind allegiance...It's the reason I married you in the first place."

"That lie no longer has any meaning for me." Asuna snapped when hearing him describe their passed. She tried staying out in front of her hostage new apprentice, but her face was half turned for him to hear.

Kirito ran forward to catch up. "Look inside yourself, Asuna. Search your feelings, or whatever they say in those movies. There's still good in you. I can see it in your eyes." He had noticed since they reunited days ago that Asuna's brown eyes were not fully turned to yellow, and even reverted to a straight brown when her anger was low.

Asuna had stopped walking, and made sure to hide her face this time, not wanting Kirito to see her eyes now. "You don't know the power of the Dark Side."

Kirito disliked hearing Asuna with such fire in her voice, but appreciated the fact that it still sounded like it was coming from a good place in her mind. The real Asuna was still fighting against the Sith emperor, even if it looked like she was his loyal apprentice on the outside.

They passed through a hollow forcefield to lock out non-permitted players, and as the dusty tomb appeared to be captured by the darkness, Asuna powered on her curved-hilt lightsaber, and held it high in the air.

"Come on. We need to go this way."

* * *

"Have you finished checking the ship's cargo hull?" Lisbeth talked with two guards stationed outside the entrance ramp for the smuggler ship _Pina_ , which was under the custody of the Sith Empire aboard their space station hovering near Korriban. "When you're finished, check the pilot's logs to so we know what missions they've gone on."

"We looked through some of the logs already, ma'am. This was indeed the same ship that allowed Kirito to escape Alderaan after our invasion."

"Glad we finally found it then." Lisbeth replied with a nod of approval. "If that's the case, then this ship has the best working cloaking device in the entire game. Strip it from the internal computer and study it so we can make replications for our fighter fleet."

"Eh, sorry, no can do, Missy." Klein wandered into the discussion with his hands already raised upward. "The internal computer isn't exactly on board right now."

"Keep those hands where we can see them, Smuggler!" The two guards shouted their alert as both men raised guns to meet Klein's arrival. Lisbeth felt her left eyebrow twitch with anger, and stopped her foot on the ground as both her hands clenched into fists.

"What in the hell are you doing out here!?" She replied ferociously. "How did you escape the brig, and make it all the way to the hanger bay?"

"Hehe, let's just say this isn't my first time surveying a Sith space station. I've been known to pirate some supplies from the Sith lines for a while now. Like recently I got into some deep trouble trying to take cargo off a Sith juggernaut ship over the moon on Ilum."

"I don't care about your criminal record, ass!" Lisbeth let him come forward, but got extremely close to him as she began her interrogation. "I want to know how you escaped the jail cell? Start talking!"

She raised an imperial-ordered pistol to meet his forehead, and Klein crossed his eyes with disapproval as his hands still reached for the sky. Suddenly, an alarm sounded in the hanger, and flashing red lights echoed as all the doors to the hanger sealed shut from the rest of the space station.

"What's going on!?" Lisbeth panicked slightly before returning the barrel of her gun to Klein's head. "Is this your little friend's doing!?"

"Yea, but I didn't think she'd get caught so easily...stupid alarms."

"It's all good, ma'am." Said a guard from behind as she and Silica came walking over to the group. The imperial had Silica by the arm, and the lowly smuggler girl kept her head hung low to the floor with the Pina device barely stuffed in her hands. "This girl managed to shut all the doors out of the hanger using her device. It seems like she hacked the main computer."

"No kidding!" Klein blurted out, half impressed. "That's what you were working on in the cell, wasn't it, Small Fry."

"Grrr..." Silica hated the nicknames Klein gave her. "I managed to hack the space station's admin controls with Pina. I tried locking the hanger so no one else would chase us during our escape."

"Your escape." Lisbeth rolled her eyes and laughed. "Well, this isn't much of an escape if the two of you idiots just hand yourselves over to the enemy. Open the doors to the hanger, Girl. I think we'll have to send you both to Dromund Kaas after this infraction."

"Honestly, I can't." Silica held up her device, and showed them all that the Pina self-computer was powered completely off. "I used all its power to shut the doors. I need to hook it back into my ship to power it back on."

"Mgh..." Lisbeth was growing testy again, and put her weapon up as she signaled to the guards to seize Klein. "Fine. Take them inside, and make them turn the damn doors off."

The group marched up the ramp to the Pina, but just then the main hanger door to access the rest of the bay opened up to deliver Admiral Sinon followed by a wealth of supporting imperial players.

"LISBETH!" Sinon shouted to her fiend aboard the Pina. "There's a traitor on board! They tried shutting the doors to the hanger and locking us out of the bay!"

"An I _mperial_ player?" Lisbeth turned to hear her comrade's warning, but just then the guard that held Silica at the front of the line turned to put a laser in the backs of the remaining two guards, who were both in charge of watching Klein at the middle of the ramp. Klein took one of their guns, and grabbed Lisbeth by the arm tightly. He put a gun to her temple and slowly marched her backwards into the ship.

"Don't shoot, Sniper! We got your friend in a pretty bad spot right now."

"AGH!" Lisbeth writhed in anger as she tried to pry herself from Klein's grip. "SHOOT THIS ASS, SINON! I WANT HIM DEAD!"

Sinon needed no command from Lisbeth to make up her mind, and had already drawn her rifle to shoot the gun out of Klein's right hand. He dropped the weapon, then pulled Lisbeth closer as he pulled a pistol from her side, and kept his left arm hooked around her neck as he turned to send more shots off at Sinon and the others. Silica had raced inside to power on the main controls, while the masked imperial helping Klein at the ramp followed him up with supporting fire.

Sinon fired off another shot, but Klein rolled Lisbeth to stand right in front of him as a shield. The powerful rifle bullet did not make contact with Lisbeth, but it did manage to destroy her expensive jetpack strapped to her torso. She flailed her arms in more anger as she tried biting and clawing her way away from Klein, but he countered by beating her in the gut with the back end of his pistol every time he rounded the corner for cover.

"Just simmer down, girlie. You're gonna come with us to Coruscant and tell Amun-din what the Sith's plan is with our warp technology."

"Eat me." Lisbeth was moaning through the pain at her side, and tried to turn away from him. "I'll blow your damn ship up before it has time to leave the hanger."

"I don't think that's possible!" Alicia removed her imperial helmet and gave Lisbeth a wink. "The brig we'll put you in is a separate instance from the rest of the game. Once we turn the engines on and shut the door, then you're trapped inside a separate room."

"Lousy traitor..." Lisbeth glared at the floor, and tried coming up with a second plan. Just then, she pulled out a larger than normal thermal detonator from her pocket, and switched it to charged. "Then I'll just have ta take you all out before we leave!"

"YIKES!" Klein threw her body into a wall, and watched as the grenade rolled away from the door. He quickly tackled Lisbeth back to the ground, and shouted over to his new friend. "Alicia! Toss it!"

Alicia nodded, and grabbed the ticking explosive from the ground to toss it out of the hull, but as the bomb left her fingers, a bullet pierced her chest, and sent her flying into the back wall.

"ALICIA!" Klein yelled out as the doors to the Pina closed, and engines powered on to full blast, allowing Silica to pilot her way off the space station, and prep the cloaking device for their timely escape off Korriban once and for all.

Sinon covered her eyes after taking the life of the traitorous Alicia, but blocked herself from the explosive fires that surrounded the hanger as the _Pina_ starcraft lifted itself into the air, and flew out into the safety of space. She now had to figure out some way to report Lisbeth being captured to her supervisor, which at this time, happened to be the very impatient Wrath of the Empire.

* * *

"Here, the tomb of Naga Sadow." Asuna stopped in front of a dried orange coffin, only illuminated by feint torchlight surrounding the walls of the chamber, and the ruby red glow of her lightsaber. "Although this crypt doesn't actually house the Sith Lord, it was built in honor of him, and was used to keep the bodies of other prominent Sith characters."

The Sith Lord turned to the still silent Kirito, and lowered her saber to let the point hover over the ground. "Grab a lightsaber from one of the coffins. We can duel here, and see which forms of combat you've learned how to master so far."

"You want to duel me, in here." Kirito replied plainly. "You want to use a real lightsaber on a student you have no intentions on killing."

Asuna kept her expression rather flat as well. "If you die during a training duel, then you really aren't worth being my student anyway. Real blades are the only way to test true power."

That style of thinking was a far different philosophy than what Leafa presented him with back on Tython. Everything with the Jedi felt like a kindergartner's first week of school. Here, things felt more like a kindergartner being forced to swim in the deep end of the pool before learning how to float.

"I can't fight you for real, Asuna." Kirito tried to plea. "I won't go all out in a fight with you, no matter what you might say."

"Oh, not this again." Asuna rolled her eyes. "Look, I don't know what has happened between us in the real world, and right now, I don't give a damn. As far as what you've seen from me, I'm a totally different person than the Asuna you married in some other video game."

She turned her shoulders to fully face her half-student/half-prisoner. "If this version of me is so hard for you to accept, then strike me down here and now. End my life, Kirito, and log me out of the game."

Kirito had no idea if it would be that simple. He and the others still had no idea what truly happened to players that are killing using the Holocron System. They are apparently stored in a unique setting from the game, but after that, only his brief moments with Suguha gave him any clue.

 _"Wait!"_ He thought quickly to himself how Suguha seemed more normal after dying on Alderaan and teleporting to Dagobah. If he managed to kill Asuna, then maybe her ghost would return to normal on Dagobah too. It was quite a long-shot, and killing his beloved was far easier said than done.

Kirito walked slowly past her, and marched up to a Sith tomb sealed shut by stone and time. He raised a hand, and forced the lid of the coffin to slide open, and off the back of its resting place. Asuna watched Kirito channel his anger, and lit up with sinister glee as he drew a faded lightsaber from the unmarked grave of a mysterious fallen Sith, and powered on its still sharply lit ruby red blade in his off hand.

Kirito turned to face Asuna, who was still standing in the central floor of the chamber. He grabbed the lightsaber of Darth Barristan at his side, and now held two red lightsabers with fire in his eyes as he stared down the face of his romantic enemy.

Asuna looked up at Kirito standing boldly atop the ancestral plinth. She had a look of sarcasm in her eyes, and brought her feet together to give him a Form II salute. After twirling the lightsaber in front of her body with one hand, she lowered it to her back-right side, spread her stance apart, and left her body open as a sign to show her readiness.

"AGH!" Kirito had started to forget all the patience and serenity he learned from training with the Jedi, and leapt off the stone steps with a shout of anger echoing the chamber. He brought both lightsabers high on either side, and sent them crashing down to meet his target Asuna slowly back-pedaled as she blocked every one of his attacks, and started studying him as a fighter while performing her own elegant dance of combat.

"Your attacks are far too standard for being Mathis's student! Do something a little more unorthodox for me!" She watched the fire build up inside his eyes, and made sure to keep an eye on his feet now and again as he sent more flurries of powerful attacks clashing into her saber. She never used her left hand for combat, and kept it low at her left side for balance. Occasionally she would raise it to send a rock or piece of debris flying toward Kirito to keep his guard up, but a quick flash of one of his swords would always be enough to dispel the trick, and allow them to keep their duel to just blade on blade.

Kirito was moving fast, but Asuna's movements were all small and very well controlled. He noticed her eyes moving back and forth throughout the fight, and realized she was just as much a student when she fought as he was. "You've specialized in dueling, I take it. You try to study an opponent in the middle of a fight to exploit their weaknesses."

Asuna broke the conflict, and both Force users jumped back as she raised her left hand. "I've mastered a combination of the seven forms of lightsaber combat, but yes, most of my work is reflected in Form II. I don't need power and rage to win a fight, just elegance, and a small degree of time."

"Elegance...more like arrogance." Kirito could see some of Asuna's natural confidence shining from this evil persona of her now. He could respect her skills just like the real Asuna. This Sith Lord version of his beloved wife was quite the duelist, and was no doubt a master of the Force as well.

Asuna carried on. "You, for example. Based on your technique, you've gathered a lot of fighting knowledge from other video games. You also fight with speed, and an intense amount of aggression. You do an excellent job at combining Forms I and IV."

"Yea, Mathis tried telling me about all the lightsaber forms. It got pretty annoying really quick."

"Then let me guess." Asuna shrugged. "You tried ignoring him, and he beat you."

"Agh, that's so not the point!" Kirito snapped back into the fight, and lunged into an attack as he tried slashing off Asuna's weapon from her hand. "My fighting just comes from other games, like you said. It doesn't matter what special form I use in this universe!"

"Very true." Asuna replied. "You do have an impressive amount of speed and agility! Great for a single-opponent fight like this!"

Kirito hated the patronizing compliment, and felt even more anger swell as all of his hits kept getting repelled.

Asuna cracked a smile. "Form IV is a very easy style to lose your energy in as well. If you're not careful, your enemy will simply take the fight out of the fighter!"

She powered on her energy, and slammed her saber down hard to his left side. Kirito went to block, but his arms started to feel like jelly as he simply slid out of the way from her attack. He then brought both blades to his right side, and cross-blocked Asuna's counter attack as she tried switching sides.

Kirito noticed that instead of simply using her lightsaber as a shield in her defensive stance earlier, she almost pushed off onto his lightsaber blade every time. When Asuna defended his strikes, her parries acted less as a brick wall, and more as a rubber wall. It forced Kirito to move his arms more and more, back and forth into his attacks, and quickly ran him out of his already impressive level of stamina.

Then, he started getting desperate, albeit slightly creative in the process. Kirito jumped backwards in a retreat, then tossed one of his sabers like a boomerang to hit Asuna square at her front. The noble Sith Lord hit it like a baseball, and sent it flying back in his direction. Kirito sent the sabers into the ceiling next time, which forced a cloud of debris to fall down over Asuna, and made her stop to block it was a move from her left arm.

Kirito shot forward as Asuna defended herself from the cloud, and as he swung his lightsabers out to his side, he quickly brought them back in to hack her in two. Asuna caught onto this rather quickly, though, and managed to send the cloud of rocks at Kirito in his charge. She raised her lightsaber up, and brought it down in front of her like she was ready to drive the point into the ground. This motion stopped Kirito's cross chop in its tracks, and as she brought her blade back up in an aggressive slash toward the sky, Kirito backed off and made space between them yet again.

Asuna took a short breath, and raised her left hand forward as a violent column of purple lightning shot from her fingers, and into Kirito's sabers. He held up all the strength in his arms that was available, but barely struggled to hold out in his defense.

Asuna kept the onslaught powered on high, but suddenly drew the lightning back, and leapt forward with her sword drawn to the front. Kirito shot after her, and as both warriors screamed at the top of their lungs, Asuna's blade met the air right outside Kirito's left abdomen.

Kirito's right saber was also ready to gut Asuna at her waist, but suddenly an alert sounded from the Sith Lord's utility belt. Both fighters gasped in a quick breath, and drew back their weapons as Asuna powered on her holographic comms. link.

 _"Lady Rose."_ It was Lord Trentyn. _"The Republic has brought their own auxiliary force to fight on Tatooine. We're told they have a competent commander leading their squadron, probably a Jedi. Our men are barely able to make it back to our base for a defensive rally. We need the Korriban garrison here as soon as possible."_

His message cut off from there, and as Kirito looked to see Asuna's eyes shut in displeasure, the Sith Lady turned for the exit of the chamber.

"Come. We'll need to move quickly in order to make it to Tatooine."

"Hold on, who was that?" Kirito followed after her in confusion. "And why is he allowed to summon you like some dog to fight his battles!?"

"I'm not responding because he asked me to help him." Asuna Yuuki sharply replied as she kept her thoughts to herself. "I'm going because this just happens to speed my own plans up in a rather favorable way. We're going to pay this attacker a little visit, then grace the good Lord Trentyn with our presence as well. Hopefully he's ready to receive me in my current mood."

* * *

 **So Alicia sacrificed herself to save the others, and the Smuggler duo has captured Lisbeth!**

 **Meanwhile, Asuna has been summoned to help on Tatooine, and it appears she's bringing her new "apprentice."**

 **Until the next one!**


	26. 25: Arrival At Mos Ila

**Author's Note: Okay, Christmas is passed, New Year's is next week, new SAO today, The Mandalorian is done with season 1, and the Skywalker Saga has finally ended! (My thoughts of ROS and Mando E8? see below!)**

 **For now, is anyone ready to pick up some power converters at Tosche Station? Please enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Five - Arrival at Mos Ila

* * *

Asuna and Kirito were both aboard the _Mother's Rosario_ juggernaut cruiser as it sailed through the galaxy at top speed in pursuit of the dried, arid planet know as Tatooine.

Known for being a harsh desert planet off all the major trade routes, Tatooine was famous for its heat, its sand, its dangerous wildlife, and very little else. Only a few settlements dotted Tatooine's endless wastes, which were inhabited by handfuls of local traders and moisture farmers. Tatooine's obscurity has also attracted a small but significant criminal population, stationed to hide from galactic authorities.

In truth, Tatooine lacked any central government or allegiance to the Republic or Empire. However, after several rumors of an Imperial occupation taking place, this eventually came to be a reality as Imperial players were ordered under the command of the Emperor to ready themselves on the Outer Rim's territory in case a Republic backlash returned to that corner of the world.

"Tatooine was surveyed by Imperials right after the PvP war started across the galaxy. The Emperor wanted an extra system to place some of our forces in case the Republic took to many inner planets." Asuna explained to her would-be apprentice, Kirito, as they sat on the command bridge of the Rosario. Sinon elected to stay back on the Korriban space port, for some unknown reason, but Asuna paid no mind to her wishes as she was too focused on reeling in her new pupil.

Kirito pulled up a mini-map of the galaxy. "Yea, but isn't Tatooine a little far off from the rest of the planets? What good does stationing people all the way out here do you if your target is the Core?"

Asuna sighed. "Honestly, I'm not sure either. Lusac mainly uses it as a place to keep people who are starting to get on his nerves. Lusac and Trentyn are actual friends in the real world, but I think being trapped in this game together has put a dent in their relationship."

"Is Trentyn jealous of your title?" Kirito tried to give his darkened wife a swift grin to lighten the mood for once. "No doubt if they're really that chummy."

Asuna lowered her head as it swelled with arrogance. "Hmm, yes, he is. Which is why I've decided to use this opportunity to pay him a visit. I'm also curious to see how he reacts when he sees you at my side."

"No kidding." Kirito nodded his head. "I've heard I'm pretty famous all over the galaxy."

Asuna agreed. "Emperor Lusac hasn't had contact with his father since the game started, and from our reports, neither has Amun-din. You were personally invited into the game by Mathis, and you talked with him after logging in. You're the last person in The Old Republic Online to have any contact with him."

That made Kirito feel very strange once he heard it out loud. He remembered seeing how cheery the old man was when they met at the Immortal Gaming headquarters, then remembered how his demeanor changed once they met on Mortis.

"Hold on, he personally invited you too. And all of our friends. "Kirito was swift to add that detail. "We're all in his personal office in Tokyo using their Holocron machines."

"That's true, but you kept your brain." Asuna sounded a little annoyed by Kirito's suggestion. "I can barely remember what my parents faces look like. I hear random words like 'Aincrad' and 'Mother's Rosario' pop up inside my head now and again, but I honestly can't remember where they came from."

Kirito was extremely hurt to hear that. It reminded him of the very recent ordeal he faced with the Augma and _Ordinal Scale_. Asuna lost half her memories from that as well, and even that was too much for him to deal with. Now, on top of losing all her memories, she's been turned into a Dark Jedi hellbent on taking over the virtual world.

"Lady Rose." An Imperial technician alerted her commander as they left hyperspace. "We've arrived at Tatooine."

"Excellent." Asuna stood from her command chair and turned for the door, expecting Kirito to follow as she addressed her crew further. "Prepare my shuttle for our decent. We're landing at Mos Ila's space port."

Located near Anchorhead, Mos Ila was restored by the business of industrious Jawa creatures after years of mining for minerals. Mos Ila boasted a small spaceport as well, making the settlement ideal as a base from which the Empire could explore the abandoned Czerka Corporation weapons labs. After the reign of Emperor Lusac took control, Imperial forces claimed the town, displacing the Jawa that had made it their own.

Asuna's shuttle, The _Blood Oath_ , soared through the dusty skies of Tatooine as the pitiful sprawling deserts came into view, nearly blinding the pilots as they shielded their eyes from the sun's violent reflection off the smooth dune sea.

Kirito looked out the window as a small but lively town with white buildings and towering orange rocks came into view beyond the numerous clouds of sand. He laughed to himself and shrugged.

"Well, I take it this place is a 'wretched hive of scum and villainy' too? Kinda like that place in the movie?"

"Huh?" Asuna sharply responded. "What are you even talking about?"

"Mghgh..." Kirito groaned underneath his breath, and realized humor would not be an easy way to crack through Asuna's cursed mind control. "Never mind..."

* * *

Now, we come across the broken but not beaten _Pina_ as it slowly makes its way out of Imperial territory and back into the Republic. The hyperdrive had been slightly damaged by the Empire back on Korriban, but a few small repairs managed to get it back up and running to some small degree for a single flight toward Coruscant.

"I can't believe that thing's holding together!" Klein howled as he kicked his legs up on the dashboard and looked out to the blinding blue window. "I thought for sure we'd have to make the jump back to Coruscant without lightspeed!"

"Don't jinx it, Klein!" Silica barked out as she monitored the _Pina's_ fuel leveled with her wide eyes. "The cloak is still broken, so if we lose our speed, we're going to be sitting in open space with no protection."

"Nah, our shields can hold up pretty well. These bulk cruisers have pretty impressive armor traits too." Klein tried to make comparisons between her _Pina_ and his _Salamander._ "How else are smugglers supposed to transport their goods?"

"If you say so..." Silica finally leaned back, and turned back to the cockpit door. "Should one of us go check on that Bounty Hunter girl?"

"I guess." Klein looked very comfortable as his eyes shut to take a nap. "She's probably just sleepin'. If she's awake she'd just yell our ears off anyway."

Silence filled the room as Klein slowly opened his eyes, and realized Silica was still looking at him with a nervous expression. He let out a large huff of air, and took his feet off the control panel.

"Fine! Ugh..." Klein dusted his hands, and turned to leave out the door. "I'll check on pinky."

Klein maneuvered his way through the narrow halls of the _Pina_ , and finally made it to the hallway connecting the engine room to the sleeping quarters. Klein and Silica decided just to lock the captive Lisbeth alone in the bunkroom for the rest of the flight home, and opted to trade out on flying while the other took a quick nap. Klein felt the hallway pulse a few times on his way around, and noticed a similar vibration while back in the cockpit.

"Huh, that's really weird...better check it out after I see Lisbeth!" Klein pushed the button to unlock the door, and as it drew upward, Klein entered the room and noticed Lisbeth curled up on one of the beds, with her body facing the wall in isolation.

"Hey, Cotton Candy-head. You need anything? Water? Food? Er...bathroom break?"

Lisbeth remained quiet, and left Klein to breath off a cloud of air. "Look, just because we captured you doesn't make us the bad guys. After all, we're supposed to be friends in the real world!"

Lisbeth made no response as Klein grew even more annoyed. "Fine, suit yourself!" He went for the door, but as he turned around, Lisbeth spoke up.

"You might want to fix that power coupling of yours." Lisbeth was still lying down, and she never turned or leaned forward to fully address her captor. "That's why the ship is vibrating."

"Is that so?" Klein chuckled, and started back into the room. "You sound like quite the mechanic. How the hell would you know that if you've never seen or been on one of these smuggler ships before?"

Lisbeth sighed. "Idiot...all hyperdrive units are the same. One of them is probably polarized, or something. You'll need to replace it if you want to get me back to your base."

"Well, how helpful." Klein crossed his arms. "But how can I know you're not trying to sabotage us?"

Lisbeth rolled her eyes, but Klein had no way of knowing that until her voice carried her annoyance for her. "If that thing blows up, I die too." She shuffled around on her bed. "Or you can run the risk of it just powering down, which would let my friends catch up to you."

"Agh!" Klein jumped in the air, and ran for the door. "Already on it!" He went to shut the portal, but before his finger pressed the button, he delivered a proud salute to his captive.

"Thanks for the suggestion too, Lisbeth. We owe ya one once we get back on Coruscant!"

The door shut, and Lisbeth took a deep breath as she tried to fall back to sleep. "Idiot...I don't want your favor...even if we are friends IRL."

Once Klein returned to the room, he noticed Silica running through a few more checks on the main monitor. "Wow, our hyper speed increased just now. And our ship leveled out! We're not vibrating like before!"

"O-oh, hehe, yea..." Klein played himself off very coolly as he slid an arm behind his head. "I just figured the power coupling was dead. So, I switched it out for a new one!"

"Really?" Silica turned around with a look of shock on her face. "Was it on the positive side, or the negative side? Was it just polarized or something?"

"Erm..." Klein's bluff was being called as he slowly hunkered down into his chair. "Yes...to both of your questions."

* * *

Kirito followed Asuna off the _Blood Oath_ as a large cloud of sand and dust whipped up from the ground on their landing. They both used their Force powers to wave the particles out of their faces, and greeted a couple of commanders waiting by the entrance. It was just after sunrise, and the air was still quite cool.

"Lady Rose. We're glad you could make it." One of the men kept his salute high, and lowered it swiftly with his partner as Asuna approached. "Hopefully you read Darth Trentyn's full briefing. We don't have a lot of time before the Republic makes their move."

"I did." Asuna gave them a nod as she walked by the with Kirito in tow. "I'd like to speak with Trentyn though before we make our plan for defense."

"Gladly, My Dear." Lord Trentyn walked out of an elevator door coming from the ground level of the spaceport as he marched forward to greet his commanding officer. "Hopefully you brought what I actually needed from you. That great garrison army of yours is meant to be quite the force against a Republic squadron."

"It appeared to be that way on Alderaan." She knew he was teasing her, but her army's results spoke for themselves. "Do you know who the commander of the Republic forces is yet?"

He crossed his arms with a smug expression. "At first, we thoughts they we Jedi, but apparently it's a pair of commandos. Quite the fighting duo..." His eyes opened, and narrowly landed on the apprentice standing behind Asuna.

"So, this is the boy, Kirito." He walked forward, past the lady Sith, and stood a few heights taller than the black swordsman from Aincrad. "You're Peter Mathis's prodigy child. A bold choice on his part."

Kirito's expression never changed from its passive state. He looked Trentyn in the eyes, making a note that one was glassed over with red cybernetics. "You must be Lucas's friend from the real world. Trent Bishop. You've made some pretty great strides with graphics technology for _Immortal Gaming_."

"A true connoisseur." Trentyn raised an eyebrow. "It would only make sense for you to know that...I've had my hand in some great works for Immortal, but Lucas is the true mastermind behind our main titles."

Kirito's eyes narrowed. "On the technical side. Amanda is the better writer."

Trent laughed. "Is that so? As far as I can see she just lifted most of the work from Bioware's version of the game. She's done very little in the last year to take the head chair at Immortal. When the old man leaves, Lucas will be the one in charge."

"I guess we'll just have to see it happen." Kirito let the air between him and Trentyn heat up in their silence for just a little longer, then turned to address Asuna. "So, what now? Do we have a plan for your attack?"

"Our attack, you mean?" Trentyn looked confused. "I was under the impression Lady Rose would send her new acolyte into battle the auxiliary forces before the main..."

"Kirito knows what his assignment is." Asuna was putting words in the black-haired boy's mouth. "He was talking about _our_ role." She quickly turned to address her new acquaintance, but notedly gave him quite the icy stare.

"Right, Kirito?"

The grey-factioned Kirito eventually realized that he was starting to blow his cover. He tried convincing himself the whole way over that if it came down to it, he would not hurt any of the Republic soldiers. Since the Light Side faction at least had their own free will, he figured he would need as many of them as possible to take down Lusac and end the game.

That being said, Asuna and Trentyn were not familiar with his still loyal heart to the Republic. Even his defense of Amanda's reputation tilted the meter into a suspicious range as they all three left for the doorway out of the port.

"Right. Whatever you say."

Asuna led the trio out into the open town. Busy groups of Imperial soldiers and Sith Warriors were prepping themselves for an assault on the Republic advance. Fighters soared in and out of the skies as they patrolled the grounds for signs of movement, and while the lieutenants were all assigning roles to their underlings, the two majors in this army were discussing their plans.

"Most will remain here in the town in case the bulk of enemy forces make it into the valley." Trentyn explained as he followed right behind Asuna. "I'll have your crew be the ones in defense here while I take my forces in an ambush. We believe their main camp is stationed in the Jawa's sandcrawler field."

"Sorry, but I didn't fly half way across the galaxy to be put on the side line." Asuna barked backwards as she kept her eyes down through the thick clouds of sand. "My army is stronger than yours. I'll go on the offensive."

"You expect me to have a supporting army complete my mission for me while I wait around at Mos Ila? I'd look like a total fool to Lusac!" Trentyn was already regretting calling the girl out here.

"I expect you to use the tools at your disposal wisely. My forces wiped Alderaan clean out of this war. A small task force scattered across Tatooine will be nothing for me. Besides..." A small look of evil took her grinning face. "I'd like to see my new apprentice in full work against the Republic."

Trentyn rolled his eyes. "If your little husband wants to get his sword whet, then have him fight the P.O.W.s after the battle. We need true Sith men on this operation."

Asuna stopped walking, even as a sand storm shook the town to its core. "I'm sorry, you probably think I was listening to you. And, I also imagine you think Kirito is still with us."

"Huh?" Trentyn turned around and tried to locate the now missing grey warrior as the storm subsided for just a moment. "What in the hell are you thinking letting a factionless soldier walk around our base freely!?"

Asuna carried on walking. "He's not in our base. I sent him to snuff out the Republic's leaders."

"You are a fool after all." Trentyn hissed. "You sent a former Republic sympathizer to parley with the enemy? If he turns on us, I'll make a personal report to the Emperor to have you stripped of your titles."

Asuna stopped, and turned around to fiercely look up at Trentyn's one human eye. "And if you lay one finger on Kirito, I'll cut you down myself by order of your beloved Emperor. He wants him left _alive_." The Lady Sith turned again, and made her way into the command office in the center of town.

"If Kirito had any sympathy left for the Republic, it vanished the moment he laid his eyes on me. If we're lucky...the commanders he finds at the Republic's base camp will be more of his friends from the real world."

* * *

Towering over the Tatooine valley that kept the Republic's forward camp was a large cliff, and standing at its peak were two very well-decorated Republic Commandos. One was a male, and he held a set of binoculars as he scanned the fuzzy horizon in the direction of Mos Ila. The other was a woman who looked patiently down at the Jedi and commando troops scurrying in the valley own below. Two large suns were just poking over the dune hills, and the day was growing more and more brighter than the current orange on the horizon.

"Dang. We won't be able to see the Sith if they make their move. That lousy dust storm is really working out in their favor." Thinker lowered his scopes to take a long sigh as he channeled his thoughts. "It must be the work of that Sith Lord, Trentyn."

Yulier nodded, and kept her hands on her rifle as she continued scouting her troops. "He's the main target. We do need to take out as many of Emperor's Lusac's confidants as possible, but Amun-din was specific in her direction though. We need him _alive._ "

"Why is that again?" Thinker turned to ask his wife about their orders. "He's no doubt a dangerous man if kept alive."

"He knows Lusac very well. He can tell us most of their plans, and we can use him to plan our invasion for..." Yulier wanted to say more, but a soft buzzing noise quickly turned into the feint roar of an engine as they both looked down to the other end of the cliff. A sharp line of sand and dust was shooting into the air as a rapid speeder bike zoomed away from the direction a thick cloud, and made its way closer and closer to their point. The small object clearly had one lone passenger, and as their eyes adjusted enough for them to see the vehicle, the bike ramped off an upward jutting rock to propel the figure to their level on the mountain side.

Kirito jumped from the bike, and turned to regretfully address his friends. "I should have expected to see some of my old friends. Long time no see, guys!"

"Hey, you're the Kirito boy from Alderaan!" Thinker quickly remembered the face of his savior as he waved the boy over. "It's good to find you out here."

"No joke!" Yulier's heart lifted upward as she lowered her weapon. "We could use your skills to help us take out the Imperial's first wave."

Kirito nodded. "I came to talk to you guys about that. Their commander has a new ally now, and this one is extremely powerful. You need to return to Coruscant and give Amanda a warning for me!"

"Huh?" Thinker questioned that suggestion. "Why would we want to return now? We're almost ready to make our move. We need to acquire the Emperor's lead confidant before we escape the planet!"

"Absolutely." Yulier agreed. "Besides, how did you get here anyway? How do you know who's fighting for the Empire?"

"It doesn't matter!" Kirito wished to hide his previous affiliation. "You need to evacuate now!"

"Sirs!" A buzz came from Thinker and Yulier's intercom link as a man's voice yelled over the microphone. "That person you're talking to came from Mos Ila! They came straight from the Empire's home base!"

The voice echoed from a patrolling Republic fighter, which was also flying toward the commanders standing on the cliff at that very moment. It locked its barrels on the grey figure standing in front of Thinker and Yulier, and alerted them once again of his intentions. "Clear out so I can open fire on him!"

"Knock it off!" Kirito rapidly turned to send a swelling force of wind into the speeding fighter. The mighty gust blew the ship off its trajectory, and let loose premature laser shots at the group to try and blast through the dust for its target.

Kirito drew two crimson red lightsabers, and slashed at the bolts to send them back at their target. One hit, and forced the fighter out of the sky, and into the rocks down below as fire and ruble covered the sandy stretch beneath the cliff side.

Yulier gasped, and Thinker tensed his fists as he drew his round-barreled Gatling gun from his back to aim it right for Kirito. "Sith Lightsabers? You turned on us! You came with the Empire to talk us into leaving the planet!"

"They must be low on soldiers if they're trying to scare us off." Yulier thought to herself, and aimed her shock rifle right at Kirito's face. "Don't move and come with us! You're under arrest by order of the Galactic Republic!"

"Guys..." Kirito lowered his weapons with a saddened look in his eyes. Smoke and flames continued to build up behind him, and only fueled his heated heart more as two old friends from back in SAO aimed their weapons at the already tense boy.

He had spent too many days with the Sith Empire recently. Leafa and the others did an excellent job at holding down his rage, but the moment Darth Rosario began sinking her claws into the confused Kirito, his inner rage snapped as his red lightsabers slowly rose up.

"I finally made it to Asuna...I'm not letting anyone ruin my shot at winning her back...not even my old friends."

* * *

 **So Tatooine! Wouldn't be Star Wars without it!**

 **Asuna and Trentyn seem tense, as does Lisbeth and the smugglers. Kirito has reunited with some of his friends from SAO (and the battle on Alderaan) but he is very unbalanced and believes they are there to take Asuna from him. The grey Jedi is still showing his darker side, which brings me to...**

 **Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker! Hmm, well it was quite the conflicting film with fans. I do not want to discuss due to spoilers, but eh, I'd give it a 6/10, maybe 7/10 being the wrap-up to 9 films (and JJ Abrams had to finish a different director's stuff from Ep VIII).**

 **The Mandalorian Series Finale? HA! 10/10, overall the Disney+ Flagship series is a 9/10 to me, capturing a very nice corner of the Star Wars saga.**

 **That's all I have to say about that. I have spoken. Until Next Time!**


	27. 26: Clash of Old Friends

**Author's Note: I'll keep the talk low, enjoy the chapter!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Six - Clash of Old Friends

* * *

Kirito shot forward with impressive speed as his twin red blades swirled around him in a vortex of channeled Sith energy. He tried to saw off the ends of both Thinker and Yulier's weapons, but the two Republic Troopers were quick to roll out of the way and divide from the attack. Thinker charged on his swirling Gatling gun, and let a host of bullets loose on Kirito as the nimble Force user dodged and ducked out of each laser.

Meanwhile, Yulier kept her shock gun aimed low to the ground in an attempt to catch Kirito's feet as they landed. The would-be Sith's touches were so delicate, however, that even as they hit the ground no dust cloud or sand kicked up from his uplift. Kirito turned to roll over a swarm of bullets from Thinker, then tossed his left saber like a boomerang toward Yulier to try and slice her gun in half, but the veteran female soldier took a second roll dodge down the slope to keep herself out of danger.

Thinker started to think outside the box, and quickly chucked a flashing light blue thermal detonator toward the ground as Kirito landed for another assault. The explosion flashed in the middle of the battlefield, and suddenly Kirito's feet were stuck to the ground in a great shape of ice. Frosted spikes shot out from the ground where the grenade exploded, and Kirito felt his muscles thin out as the cold substance kept him firmly planted on his spot. He yelled out in frustration while Thinker charged up his gun, but the brash Sith trainee sliced the thick sheets of ice clean open with one of his sabers, and lunged forward to take out the Republic commando once again.

Kirito slashed forward with a cross cut from his blades, but Thinker ducked, and butted the approaching enemy with the back of his rifle. Kirito flipped over his opponent's body, and rolled over the hill, but quickly earned his feet again as he shot up for a third assault.

Yulier shot several rounds in his direction, and now knowing that she had the more-powerful shot, Kirito took his eyes off the man, and aimed them directly for the woman. Thinker noticed, and reloaded his rounds to blast the dark Jedi into oblivion, but as he let loose his first shots, Kirito raised one of his hands, and summoned a large vortex of air and sand around Thinker's person.

The Republic Commando coughed through the fit of dust, but his partner was luckily a Republic Vanguard class. Yulier sent out a small grey droid, which let off a powerful vibration along with a pulsing blue light. It cleared the sand from Thinker's view, and allowed both Republicans to lock down their enemy.

Kirito smiled at the gesture. "Wow. I hope you're writing all of this down for a new video on MMO Tomorrow, Thinker. It outta be a pretty grand episode."

"How do you...?!" Thinker was totally in shock as Kirito called out his real-life profession. "You really do know us back in the real world...that still won't keep you from Amun-din!"

Kirito flipped over several rocks, completing several back-to-back acrobatic moves to avoid Thinker's rampage of bullets. Yulier tried to follow with concentrated shots from her own gun as Kirito made his landings, but once again the elusive Black Swordsman of Sword Art Online had just enough finesse to keep himself alive.

When Kirito landed, however, He felt a rumble take his feet, and noticed Thinker and Yulier shaking against the ground's quakes as well. Kirito leaned over to see what was going on in the Republic's valley campsite, and the realization left him in shock.

The Sith Empire had made its advance. Red lightsabers were down there clashing against blue and green, while laser bolts flashed across the sandy dunes of the camp. Several Republic shuttles exploded as Sith fighters came low for assaults, but the Republic was able to counter some with return fire from their own ships.

"No!" Thinker yelled out in rage. "The Sith ambushed us at our own camp!"

Yulier agreed as she left her sights off Kirito for just a moment. "This is bad. We need to pull whatever troops we can to secure our own assault. Let's take this kid into custody and get back to the real fight."

"You will do no such thing."

Thinker and Yulier froze, and a bizarre smile crossed Kirito's slightly demented face as Asuna the Sith Lord strode over the other side of the hill to join the three old friends in their confrontation. Her curved lightsaber was now lit, and with a twirl of her blade, the Empire's Wrath readdressed her new foe.

"You'll be lucky enough to leave this planet with your lives. I may make an exception if you provide me with intel on the Republic's operations, though."

"We're not telling you anything, Sith!" Yulier charged her gun again, and shouted over the rocky field to confront her new enemy. "We'd never betray our own faction with a threat like that!"

"I'd hardly call it a threat." Asuna was still smiling, despite the impending battle that was about to unfold between the four old friends. "Think of it as...well, buying your own lives."

* * *

"That little bitch lied to us!"

Klein sat behind the main controls of the _Pina_ as he barrel-rolled out of the way from several large blaster canon shots sent from an Imperial juggernaut. The weighted Smuggler transport was very limited with the amount of maneuvers it possessed, but Klein and Silica had skilled enough hands to make it do what they needed in order to stay alive.

Silica hated feeling a bit smug inside, but she tried to deliver her best line as they avoided enemy fire together. "I hate to say I told ya so, but...you should have just left her alone."

"Oh, come off it!" Klein yelled back. "You're the one who sent me in there to talk with her! Besides, the only reason you didn't want to go see her was because she scared you!"

"She's an enemy!" Silica blasted back. "Why would you take engineering advice from an enemy?!"

The _Pina_ flipped out of the way again now, as several Imperial fighters launched a barrage of shots for the back of their enemy's hull. The tail end of the _Pina_ was only swift enough to avoid half of them, taking the other chuck of shots to its shields as they weakened with every hit.

"We need to get out of here, like now!" Silica was delicately holding onto her own controls as she tried to help Klein steer the vessel, but the cocky co-pilot continued in his attempt to take over the flying from there. After a little bit, it dawned on her that Klein was actually a pretty impressive pilot.

"Yea, I'll agree to that...in fact, watch me!"

Klein slammed down on a large lever to his right, and watched as several stars started to streak across the screen of the windshield. However, just as they tried to jump to lightspeed, the engine of the _Pina_ stalled once again, leaving them stranded for a second time in a row.

"Watch that!?" Silica yelled, disappointing herself for believing in him for a mere second. "You made me watch you fail a second time!?"

"Uh-oh." Klein kept his voice rather low this time. "I think we're in trouble."

"Duh!" Silica barked back as a small fleet of Imperials continued to chase them. "We need to locate a friendly system immediately!"

"I think we're in trouble." Klein stood and ran for the door, totally ignoring Silica as she took full control of her own ship from there. The red-haired maniac shuffled through the rest of the ship in a rough walk as he held onto every object on the wall that he could grasp.

Finally, he managed to make his way to the engine room, but what he found was totally bizarre.

Lisbeth was working beneath a floorboard trying to make repairs to some part of the engine. She had a thick workman's mask over her face, and shot off bright blue sparks from her tools as she emerged to the surface to greet the befuddled Klein. "Took ya long enough to find me here."

"You little..." Klein grabbed her from the floor hole, and shoved her into a wall, grabbing her neck with his own hand. "You tricked me into sabotaging my own engine, didn't you!?"

"AGH! What are you talking about, you ass!?" Lisbeth choked out her words as she clawed her way from his hands. "Put me down! I told you everything you needed to know ta fix your stupid problem!"

"The power coupling!?" Klein retorted. "Was it really even broken!?"

"YES!" Lisbeth freed herself, and smacked his hands away. "You switched the wrong one out, though. By the time I noticed, you already received your trouble."

"Trouble by your friends." Klein snapped back. "Quite the fleet they mustered for a single-person rescue mission."

"Apparently they're your friends too, you dummy." Lisbeth kept her snappy attitude in-tact. "Aren't we all friends in the real world, or something?"

"You are the absolute worst." Klein tried to make his open repairs alongside his enemy as they both shook from the vibrations of gunfire hitting the side of the _Pina_.

Lisbeth took a tool from Klein's hands, and tried fixing a new part of the machinery. "Your motivator is busted! The Imperials on Corellia must have sabotaged your engine if it has these many issues wrong with it!"

"What the hell is a motivator?!" Klein argued back. "Agh, these aren't real ship parts, are they?"

"Ugh!" Lisbeth growled as she tried to fire on the motivator for the hyperdrive. "Of all the idiots in the Republic to take me hostage..."

"Why the hell would you be trying to help us if your friends are chasing us to get you back!?" Klein threw his hands in the air, and gave up helping her just to receive a response.

Lisbeth turned with a look of fire still existent in her eyes. "It'd be safer for them to just blow me up with you, than to risk me leaking secrets about Darth Rosario's army. Why save me when silencing me saves the rest of the faction."

"Your friends would really do that?" Klein lowered his energy to come down to her level. "Damn...that's way too harsh."

"Why do you care?" Lisbeth stopped for a moment and turned her head. "The Empire does what it takes to win. If I die, then so be it. Keeps you guys from winning the war."

"Don't talk like that." Klein argued with her even more, but with a leveled head this time. "You're still an important player to them. You have to be. They can't just treat you as expendable and expect to move on. What good's winning a war if you have no friends to celebrate with."

"Easy for you to say." Lisbeth stopped her work altogether and crossed her arms in her miniature retreat from the conversation. "Stupid Republic..."

"Klein! Get up here!"

Both workers stopped their discussion and listened to Silica's loud callout as the large crashes stopped hitting the hull of the _Pina_. Klein leapt out of the hole, and Lisbeth followed after him as they made their way into the cockpit. Both were greeted by a swarm of Republic cruisers on the horizon, and an all-out dogfight broke out in their field of vision as two enemy fleets collided into one battle all surrounding the tiny _Pina_ in open space.

"All we have to do is fly toward the command ship, and we're saved!" Silica rolled over several more laser bolts, and greeted a few Republic fighters to her sides as they escorted her and the others to safety.

Lisbeth crossed her arms and turned to the left in a residing fashion. Klein, on the other hand, raised his fists in the air and hollered with a joyous glee.

"That's what I'm talking about! Score one for the Republic!" Klein gave Silica a congratulatory high-five, and turned to deliver a rather smug smile to his enemy captive.

"Ya see? When friends are in trouble, they always have people to count on to get them back to safety. You Sith air-heads could learn a thing or two."

"Whatever, Ass...you do know the likelihood of this happening wasn't in your favor. The odds were..."

"Eh eh eh..." Klein wagged his finger, and took Lisbeth by the shoulders to walk her back to her cell. "To quote a very wise man...never tell me the odds."

Lisbeth turned her head down in further anger, but also did so to cover her flushed red face. Klein continued to smirk, and directed his prisoner through the door as the _Pina_ approached a friendly hanger, but as they left the cockpit, the empty-minded Smuggler caught up to an original thought.

"Wait...how the hell did you escape the brig, anyway!?"

* * *

Kirito felt his blood begin to boil as his mind settled into ease with the arrival of Asuna. His thoughts were consumed with the passion to fight, and as his unofficial master charged forward to strike against Thinker, Kirito kept his blades high to combat Yulier as well.

"Agh!" Yulier threw down several explosive shots from her rifle, then spun out of the way to dodge Kirito's red hacks. She drew a large combat knife, and tried to hit his chest, but the brave Force warrior sliced the metallic weapon in two as Yulier threw the discarded pieces into the ground.

Kirito raised both of his weapons, and slammed them down hard on his enemy, but Yulier switched on a bubble shield to defend against his insane attack. She released a pulse explosion from her body as well, which sent Kirito flying away from her position, and gave her time to readjust her stance.

Yulier tried to catch her breath, and Thinker noticed this as he sent an incendiary bomb toward Asuna to stall her hand. He then powered on a support item to recharge Yulier's health and stats to their full power, which gave her more time to switch out her ammo.

Kirito rushed in even faster than before, and sliced a missile from her gun clean in half as he directed the point of his right-handed weapon for Yulier's face, but the crafty Republic Vanguard used her bubble shield again to save herself.

Asuna was smiling throughout most of the fight. She barely paid any attention to Thinker and his retaliating gunfire, and kept most of her focus on her newly aligned protégée. Whenever the Republic Commando sent out a fiery blast from his self-held canon, the Sith Lord took her free hand, and swept the fire around her form to keep her untouched. She was also able to use her right hand to deflect all the regular blaster fire from his spinning gun, which gave her all the focus remaining to watch her new apprentice in action.

Kirito, meanwhile, had Yulier right where he needed her. The valley erupted in a blast of fire as the two warring factions slaughtered each other inside the Republic's base-camp. Kirito had no mind to pay for the attack down below, and used all his strength and energy to bash at the bubble shield defending his foe. His eyes lit with a slight tint of rage, and Yulier knelt down to the ground to secure some of her energy needed to hold out the shield. She feared the worst was about to deliver itself onto her fate, but just as Kirito raised his sabers for a new blow, a yell took the field.

"Agh!"

Kirito turned to see Asuna had taken too much of her time watching him and his fight with Yulier. She was too excited seeing him nearly ready to deliver a final blow that she somehow managed to get her foot caught by a rock as she slowly retreated from Thinker's fire shot. Her weapon bounced away from her hand, and before she could channel any energy to retrieve it, a loud scream came from her vocal cords to signify her own danger.

"NO!" Kirito launched his right saber toward their confrontation, and pierced the chest of Thinker with the red blade of his weapon. The defeated Republic commando released his trigger finger, and fell to his defeat as Asuna lied before him with her mouth totally agape.

Kirito was frozen for half a moment, then drew his hand back as he regained control of his primary weapon. Yulier screamed uncontrollably as her beloved husband fell to the Sith duo, and her shield powered off while tears rolled down her pathetic eyes.

Kirito just stood in silence, now focusing in on Yulier, and only her. This broken friend of his had just lost her spouse, only because he tried doing the same to his beloved Asuna.

"Do it." Asuna was standing behind Kirito now, with her own saber powered down and in her hand. "Kill your friend, Yulier. Like you did Thinker."

Kirito's blades were crossed at the neck of his defeated foe, Yulier. Her tear-soaked eyes looked up at the mighty foe before her, and a small sob came from her lips as she tried to collect any memory she had of the distressed boy, Kirito. She was told they were friends in the real world, but the menace now threatening her with death looked like a total stranger to her watery recognition.

Kirito collected his breath, but could not bring his hands together as he lingered with Yulier's life on the balance. He looked at her, and let more anger swell through his body. Just then, the girl brought her hands to her neck, and Kirito noticed she was choking on air as she tried grasping for a lasting breath.

Kirito soon turned around, and caught a very angry Asuna looking into Yulier's eyes. Her hand was raised, and a tight grip was shown on her left hand as she held her fingers in a strategic way. Finally, she closed her fist, and let Yulier fall to the ground, noticing several large manufactured explosions happening from the Republic's machinery down below.

Kirito dropped his swords, and fell down to his own knees as he attempted to shed a tear for his fallen old friends. He had no idea what came over him for the duration of his fight, but either way, Asuna Yuuki proudly sheathed her weapon, and turned to the smoke-filled valley off in the distance.

"Kirito...you just took the life of a close friend, a loved-one dead by your own hand out of anger, and not self-defense ...Congratulations, you're now a true Dark Lord of the Sith."

* * *

 **So Lisbeth really might be breaking her Dark Side funk? I wonder what her secret is...**

 **Also KIRITO _NOO!_ He had to kill some of his old friends yet again (remember, he's now taken out Eugene, Sakuya, Yulier and Thinker. Meanwhile, Asuna has taken out Siune, Jun, Recon and Leafa.) **

**I finally finished all the current English copies of the SAO light novels, which means I'm finally (and _technically_ ) caught up on all-things SAO! I can't wait for Spring 2020 for the next volume to be translated...I guess I don't mind waiting...**

 **Until Next Time!**


	28. 27: Where True Loyalties Lie

**Author's Note: Hello again! Disney+ has been a great way for me to rewatch the Star Wars movies. I highly recommend it if you're a fan of Disney, Star Wars, or Marvel!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Where True Loyalties Lie

* * *

"It's good to find the two of you unharmed. I'm sorry to hear what happened to our agent, Alicia. She served the cause for the Republic very well. Now she's safely in the hands of the Force until this war is over."

General Amun-din spoke to her allies Klein and Silica as they emerged from the salvaged _Pina_ in the hanger of a Republic Flagship. Two guards held Lisbeth at gunpoint with her arms shackled forward, and Master Agil and Chrysheight stood behind the Jedi General as they conducted an informal debriefing for the two smugglers.

"What happened to Alicia is sad, but she was able to serve a great purpose." Agil gave Klein and Silica a nod. "The two of you have returned to us with vital information."

"I'll say." Chrysheight kept his arms crossed as he looked at the captive bounty hunter standing next to the smugglers. "I hear that's the same criminal who failed to take Amun-din's technology back on Coruscant. Odd how tiny our great galaxy truly is."

"Aye, that's her alright." Klein turned to awkwardly look at Lisbeth, who kept her head down in defeat and eyes to the floor. The smuggler carried on. "She's one of our friends in IRL too. I take you recognize her?"

Silica supported Klein with a nod, and spoke before Chrysheight. "I wish I could remember all my friends in the real world. I suppose having other people with their memories in-tact is good enough, though..."

Chrysheight walked forward, and stopped right in front of the enemy Imperial. "Yea, we know each other. She's a good friend of Asuna's. I guess that's the case here and in the real world too. She's also a close friend of yours, Silica."

That seemed to surprise both Lisbeth and Silica, and both girls locked eyes for a brief moment before the Japanese Ministry agent walked forward. "I wonder...what can you tell us about our fair Empire's Wrath?"

"Hey, she's had a pretty rough voyage." Klein held his hands behind his head, and started walking off from the conversation. "I say ya let her speak when she decides to."

"Are you trying to keep the Republic from acquiring valuable information, Smuggler?" Amun-din looked at the retreating Klein with a fierce expression. "If she serves the Sith Lord, Darth Rosario, then we can use her knowledge to locate the Emperor's extra garrison and cripple their army."

Klein never turned around. "I'm not doing anything. You're all Jedi, do the Jedi thing here. I'm not going to take part in extracting information from someone who considers me as a friend in the real world, even if she can't remember my name."

Lisbeth let her head rise a bit, and her eyes managed to follow Klein as he walked away from the discussion and off to a private chamber. Silica stepped forward, and addressed her final concern with Master Crysheight.

"What's going to happen with Lisbeth? Will you take her to a conference room?"

Chrysheight was still in the process of admiring Klein's philosophy that he barely noticed Silica's question. He did manage to capture the gist of it, though. "I believe we allow our captive bounty hunter here a time to rest her weary head. Lusac's master garrison hasn't been seen since Alderaan. It's probably not fit enough to fight just yet."

Amun-din turned away from the group, and silently ordered two guards to follow close after her. "I had no plans to perform any inhumane form of interrogation on the girl, but now you've made up your own minds. Let her rest. If you think it to be wise..."

Chrysheight laughed to himself as Amun-din made her exit, and in the other direction Lisbeth was being directed to the holding block to wait in a cell. Silica watched the distressed bounty hunter walking with her head low in confusion, and Master Agil turned to seek more advice from Kykuoka.

"Do you think she knows anything about Kirito? We need to find him in order to win this war."

Chrysheight held a solid grin as his eyes zoomed in on a retreating Lisbeth. "I'm sure she does. We'll get what we can from her, and hope that our boy Kazuto is doing just fine on his own."

* * *

It was mid-day on the sand planet of Tatooine, and the twin suns of the sandy planet were blistering over head. Asuna Yuuki directed several task forces along the valley of the Republic's campground. She wanted all survivors corralled for interrogation, and expected to send a further assault for their primary planetary base.

"Gather what information we can from the survivors. We'll prepare a secondary raid for the Republic's base at Anchorhead. Lord Trentyn's men should already be there, so we'll come in from behind and secure our victory together. We'll force the Republic forces from the Outer Rim for good in one single stroke."

Kirito sat by with an idol expression as he let the commanding Asuna shove her soldiers around into their next location. She turned from her lieutenants to see a very gloomy Kirito sitting on a rock with his head turned toward the shadow. His eyes were scraping the ground, but they were locked on a fixed spot as she tried to read his demeanor.

Asuna wanted to see him react to any form of her commands, but nothing happened as soldier after solider followed her orders swiftly, and let the Imperial cogs turn on a seamless roll. Once the troopers cleared, however, the Imperial commander addressed her forced underling.

"You're conflicted. Still trying to figure out how you managed to end the life of a close friend?"

Kirito never gave her the attention with his eyes, but turned just as the voice left his mouth.

"We need to talk."

Asuna raised an eyebrow, and noticed as the other Imperials around her were starting to fall into their respected roles. She knew now was an okay time to pull the dream apprentice aside for a confrontation, and decided to lead him into the lobby of her own _Blood Oath_ landed at the center of the valley floor.

"So." She opened up with a hint of excitement in her voice. "You wish to tell me something?"

Kirito never gave away his eyes, and kept his stare toward the dark ground of the ship. "You're being tricked."

Asuna was brought back by that bold accusation. She had never had an underling talk so direct to her in a time of war. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Kirito turned away to raise his voice. "You were only allowed to come attack the Republic camp because Trentyn let you. He wanted to take out the leaders on his own, until I showed up."

"What does that even mean?" Asuna was very quick to challenge the boy's thought. "Trentyn was looking to defeat the Republic holdouts on Tatooine, simple as that."

Kirito finally turned to look his beloved in the eye. "How can you be so sure? His mission was to defend Tatooine, so he calls his number one rival to take out his major problem for him? And why tell us the commanders of the Republic forces were probably Jedi, only to retract that fact and act unsure when we ask him about it. He's hiding something from you, and the rest of the Empire."

Asuna stood for a little while in the silence, only being echoed by the roar of ships and wind outside her own shuttle's entrance, but she kept her eyes locked on her beloved apprentice. "Darth Trentyn is the best friend of Emperor Lusac. He is literally the only other figure I trust in my army besides Lusac himself. There is no evidence for him to turn on his best friend's cause."

Kirito gave her no time in answering the question. He loved Asuna Yuuki, not this hellbent monstrosity that she had become.

"What makes you think Trentyn can be trusted?"

"Excuse me?" Asuna raised her voice. "He may be a fool sometimes, but Lord Trentyn is a loyal soldier of the Empire. I have no reason to believe anything otherwise."

"He sent you to fight the battles _he_ wanted you to, Asuna." Kirito retorted. "Trentyn called us here for a reason. He knew the leaders of the Republic side would have some connection to us, and he also wanted to lure your army here to Tatooine."

"Why would he do that?" Asuna questioned his logic. "Even if my army was his target, why would he call us out here?"

 ***This is an alert from the Great Sith Empire***

A universal comms link announcement fed itself over the entire plane to Tatooine as Asuna and Kirito both stopped their argument, and the former pulled out her communicator to address the live news.

 ***This system will fall to the all-mighty _Shock Drum_ in less than two hours. Failure to receive this message will result in your own untimely doom to the hands of the Galactic Empire. Long Live Emperor Lusac!***

Asuna and Kirito looked at one another, and as the note spread across the Imperial camp, men and AI scattered everywhere at the horror released from the newly addressed message.

"A Shock Drum?" Kirito asked with certain confusion. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It's a super weapon, made by the Galactic Republic." Asuna sorely replied. "The main mission for the Jedi Knight's faction uses it in the story mode. Whoever completed those missions for the Republic first must have decided to let the device live after its completion."

Both figures froze for a moment to contemplate the realization of that thought, but Sith Lord Asuna spoke first. "It was your friend from Alderaan. She held the title _Hero of Tython_."

"Suguha?" Kirito grew more and more defensive. "Why would you bring her into this?"

Asuna rolled her eyes. "She was the _me_ for the Republic. She was the first player of the Light Side faction to beat the Jedi Knight's story missions, which means she chose to keep that device alive...she'll be the reason I die if we don't do something."

"How poetic." Kirito rolled his eyes to mock Asuna, and grabbed his belt as he stood from his seat. "We're taking the fight to the Shock Drum, and Trentyn. I'm not losing two friends to one video game."

"I'll agree to that." Asuna never wavered as she stood by the boy on the entrance of her own ship. "I'd hate to see my entire army fall to such a trivial weapon."

"Hold on." Kirito tried to collect her train of thought. "You're actually showing sympathy for other lifeforms in this galaxy?"

Asuna hated it when he chose to use terminology from this universe. "If I have no army, then I lose my war. Nothing more to it that that."

Kirito finally showed his first smile after defeating his friends on the cliffs above the camp. "I dunno, Darth Asuna may finally show that she has a heart after all."

"Ass." Asuna stormed of her vessel, and reached for an open speeder bike sitting in the foreground. "Are you coming, or what?"

"What?" Kirito acted surprised as his better half made the first move for heroism. "How do you even know where to look first?"

Asuna kept a face of determination as she mounted her bike. "If you say Trentyn is behind this farce, then we need to check Anchorhead first. From there he's probably hiding in the Dune Sea somewhere. Let's get moving before you and I end up as B-rated characters to Trentyn's own story. I didn't make it this far in the game for him to end up as the grand hero of the Empire."

* * *

Both rode together on two Imperial speeder bikes. Asuna let Kirito fly several inches in front of her as they rode through the flying rock and dust of Tatooine to their next destination.

Asuna shouted out to her apprentice. "So, are you saying Trentyn is trying to blow up the planet to kill me and my army?"

Kirito did not nod, but he did address her as they zoomed through the expansive desert together. "I think so. He wants to see you and your army dead so he has no more threats standing between him and Lusac's throne. He probably wants to take me out because I'm seen as a threat to the Empire, itself."

"Ridiculous." Asuna scoffed as she followed Kirito over a rolling sand dune and around a towering orange rock sprawling from the desert floor. "Why did he not just detonate the device when we all landed on Tatooine?"

Kirito replied. "He probably needed assurance for defeating the Republic camp, and only decide to use the Shock Drum when the time was right. Think of it like his last-ditch attempt to rid himself of all his problems."

Asuna had no idea what to feel more embarrassed about. The fact that her underling, an Imperial rival was plotting to blow her up on a dreary sand planet, or that her newly acquired apprentice and supposed real-life acquaintance saw it coming first.

Either way, Kirito was proving to be quite the Sith acolyte. "What have you been training all this time for? If you view all members of the Republic as lesser fighters, then your greatest enemy on your own side is the reason for you to draw your blade now."

"..." Asuna let Kirito lead the two through the sandy deserts of Tatooine, and made no remark for her reply as they passed through rocks, dirt, and eventually bone when a giant creature-laden graveyard took its shape at the foot of a great rocky cliff. A small cave was exposed in the underpass of the decayed valley, and Kirito and Asuna stopped her to check out the small but slightly active seismic activity growling beneath the center of the planet.

Both Sith familiars stepped off their bikes, and entered the cave while also trying to dodge rubble and rock in their entrance. They rolled away from falling debris in their passage to the center of the cave, slaying several horrible spider-like creatures as they passed into the depths of Tatooine. As Asuna and Kirito made it to the core of the cavern, however, a large hall filled with bones and rock stood open with a great beast waiting in the middle for them.

"A Sand Demon." Asuna drew her weapon, and let Kirito follow her lead as the large arthropod took notice of the new ground, and turned to deliver a foul-stenched yell in their direction. Kirito drew his red sabers as well, and ran a circle around the legs of the monster in the opposite direction Asuna as they both surrounded the creature with a quick-timed attack.

The force-sensitive users took time scrapping up the beast's legs, and as Kirito took out its front two appendages, Asuna propelled herself into the air, and stabbed the monster through the back and into the dirt for a sounding defeat.

"Bravo." Said an ominous voice from a large, natural corridor to the east end of the cave. "You took out that pitiful sand demon like it was just a simple Bantha."

"Trentyn." Asuna turned to address her inferior as she swirled her blade around to show off her prowess. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"

Trentyn walked slowly into the chamber as four of his elite guardsmen followed, but stationed themselves firmly to his front flanks to protect from the invading heroes. "I must congratulate you on your punctuality. It took me quite a while to realize the Shock Drum was here in the ruins of Tatooine, so knowing you lot found it in the blink of an eye is truly astounding."

"Stop wasting our time." Kirito spoke for Asuna now as he tried cutting to the chase. "Why are you trying to challenge your own commander? Asuna is your superior, and trying to fight her must go against some sort of Imperial Code."

"Hmm." Trentyn continued to look intrigued by the boy Kazuto Kirigaya. "Perhaps it does, but so does defying your own Emperor."

Trentyn sent out an unintentional shock wave from his feet, filled with slight accents of force lightning as he looked Asuna down with fiery red eyes. "Lady Rose, you were the one who tried to bring in a new apprentice to overthrow the Emperor. You wish to see an end to his reign more than I do. You offer more of a threat than you realize."

"Asuna?" Kirito would have felt glad to hear that reality anywhere else, but not quite in this moment. The thought that she wanted to hunt down Kirito on her own was great, but the idea that she only wanted him to take command of the Sith Empire. "Is that true?"

The proud Sith Lord stepped forward slightly, and addressed her underling again. "Lord Trentyn. Are you admitting to trying to assassinate a member of the Sith hierarchy above your rank? And are you trying to sabotage your own brethren with the threat of the Shock Drum as your weapon?"

Trentyn snapped his fingers, and set loose his guards on the rabid enemies before his vision. "I might be, yes. Do you not approve?"

Asuna Yuuki paid no attention to the four approaching guardsmen of Trentyn's entourage, and kept her honor high as she drew her own blade, and swung it to a point right toward Trentyn. "Then by order of the Sith Empire, I hereby sentence you to death by the hand of the Empire's Wrath."

Kirito ignored their eye-play, and drew his two blades to take on the front two guards of Trentyn's Sith guard. He managed to take out the first man swiftly with a shot through the heart, and blocked an incoming strike from the second with his off hand as he bashed the shoulder of the next defender with his powerful red lightsaber. Kirito continued to duel the remaining two body guards as Asuna and Trentyn stared at each other with furious anger swelling in both of their eyes. Kirito finally ended the life of the two enemies, and stood between his beloved wife and her supposed enemy.

"Then why don't you and I handle this. A true duel-wielding fight to the end."

"You and I?" Trentyn sounded half insulted. "I have no quarrel with you just yet, boy, apart from you being a danger to my own Emperor. It's the Wrath that I wish to see die by my blade first."

"Not going to happen." Kirito kept his lightsabers firmly in his grip as he stepped up to face Trentyn head on. "Asuna's been brain-washed by Lusac's technology. You and I, though...we're still ourselves in this world. We're fighting with full might, and full brain power."

Kirito then took control of a hearty Sith grin as he tried getting in the head of his opponent. "Better yet, if I win, I'll keep you alive. You can tell me more about Lusac's plans and the rest of the Sith Empire."

Asuna stepped back with a face taken back by insult, but realized what Kirito was doing for her. She studied the confrontation, and allowed for a moment of silence as the mighty Darth Trentyn responded in his own, natural way. He stood with intrigue in his eyes, and turned on the two blood-orange lightsabers strapped to his side.

"You wish to defend your pathetic wife from her inevitable fate. So be it, Kirigaya. Allow me to show you why Emperor Lusac put me in-charge of this game's combat mechanics."

Kirito charged forward with two lightsabers ignited, and Trentyn did the same as they met near the edge of the large room of the cavern. Asuna kept her lightsaber on, but watched as the two swordsman locked blades with one another, and danced about the outer ring of the room in an everlasting frenzy.

Kirito, unlike usual, used his right hand for defense, and his left for offense. Trentyn let the boy make his own moves, and played fully to his own defenses as they clashed red sabers back and forth through the dimly lit cavern of Tatooine.

Trentyn was the first to speak the moment their locked blade stood still. "Kazuto Kirigaya. Peter Mathis holds you in such high esteem."

"I never asked him to track me, or anything." Kirito was sharp in his reply. "It's not my fault the man is a total creep!"

Trentyn laughed loudly. "Give me more arrogance than that! I want to see your face change it's emotion the moment I take you and that wife of yours down!"

"I've done nothing to hurt you!" Kirito shouted back as they smashed lightsabers against one another. "You just said it yourself. Asuna is your rival, so why bring me into this now!?"

"You're her protégée." He retorted. "You will be the one to bring down our Emperor and bring peace to this broken galaxy. You threaten Lucas's vision of taking over Immortal Gaming as his own! You must die!"

Kirito shoved off the attack, and jumped backwards to collect those words. "Wait, Lucas wanted me dead? Then why go through all the trouble to hunt me down and capture me?"

"That was your dear wife, I'm afraid." Trentyn gestured to the now frozen Asuna. "She insisted that you'd be the perfect weapon against Lucas's sister, and he fell for it. She promised you to him as a new student of the Dark Side, but she has yet to contact him on the whereabouts of your location or training."

Trentyn swirled his sabers in a vortex-shaped attack, and tried to disarm Kirito with the strength of his moves. "Now, you stand in the way as the only one who has the power to defeat him."

Both warriors stood far apart now, and Asuna simply took her time to study the assault as Kirito and Trentyn studied each other at the same time. A swell of air fell through the room as the power of the Shock Drum moved more and more throughout the cavern, which left time as a valuable commodity in this precious moment.

"Yo would kill thousands of your own soldiers, and take out an ally named by your best friend as his second-in-command, just to bring me in?" Kirito let the rage and anger swell through his body as he tried to collect Darth Trentyn's motives. "Asuna was simply doing her job, and somehow you still found jealousy in her actions."

Trentyn smiled, and shrugged his shoulders. "A traitor is a traitor. Asuna may be all for the Empire, but she's far too annoying to keep around. And you...you pose a great threat to our glorious Emperor. It's only natural that the one who made you who you are should go down with you."

"I love Asuna, don't think that's a lie." Kirito was shaking with rage and hatred as his hands vibrated with building power of his own. "But she had nothing to do with my upbringing in this world. She served as my motivation to beat this game, but my training was a combination of many people that I love. Too many people that all care about me, including Asuna, put their trust into my abilities to end this game. I won't end it all like this to some wannabe hero playing second-string to his best friend and his rich dad."

Kirito raised his hands, and took control of the ceiling rocks hanging over head as a dark cloud emulated from his stance. "I'm taking down anyone who threatens me, or Asuna! We're going to end this game together, no matter if anyone tries to stop us along the way!"

Kirito shot forward toward the menacing Darth Trentyn, but just as he tried to draw his blade up for a powerful strike, the experienced Sith Marauder stepped sideways, and stuck the poor boy in the side with his left blade.

"All too easy." Trentyn watch Kirito roll away down the rocky steps into the deeper cavern, and laughed as the enemy before his feet stood no chance of standing back up. "You're a bigger fool than I realized! This game's fate was decided the moment my master took control of the Sith faction! THE DARK SIDE IS FAR TOO POWERFUL TO BE OVERTAKEN!"

"If you touch Kirito one more time with your pathetic weapons, I'll cut you down with no final words to your name."

Kirito went to cry out in pain, and Trentyn tried to continue in his gloating to get the best of his defeated enemy, but Asuna Yuuki, or _Darth Rosario_ , stepped up with her curved lightsaber handle firmly in her hand. As her steps drew closer to her now established enemy, the yellow in her eyes matched the red of her crimson blade to mark the sinister look of a true Dark Lord of the Sith.

"I'm through with your games, Trentyn. This ends here and now. You die, tonight, and you die by my blade."

* * *

 **Whew boy! Darth Rosario is going to show off some of her master sword play yet again in the next chapter. I wonder what's behind the true nature of their rivalry...**

 **Until Next Time!**


	29. 28: Only a Sith Deals in Absolutes

**Author's Note: Twenty Eight! Got some Sith vs Sith action today! Man, maybe Darth Bane was on to something when he developed the Sith Rule of Two...**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Eight - Only A Sith Deals in Absolutes

* * *

"Lady Rose." Trentyn appeared to be rather entertained as the Sith Lord stepped in between the fight to shield her lost husband. He raised a hand to further show his attitude. "It's a bit odd when the wife has to step in to save her husband. I'm sure the two of you have adventures like this all the time...Aincrad was quite the life-changing experience for you, after all."

He then looked down to a flustered Kirito clutching on to a side wound, cauterized, but still in pain. Trentyn turned again to gaze back at Asuna. "Oh wait, I'm sorry, you can't remember any of your adventures with him, can you? Is he even your friend in the Real World? How do you even know he's telling the truth?!"

Asuna's eyes were starting to flicker, with the lids twitching in anger as the gold of her pupils shone through Trentyn's laughing façade. Kirito was, for only a moment, actually scared for both of their lives once he went down in his injury. Now, though, he was mainly scared to see Asuna lose her sanity the moment the fire lit in her eyes. He knew Trentyn was going to die now, he just had no idea what to expect.

Darth Rosario slowly charged forward up the steps to confront her lesser, but as she did, a powerful telepathy took control of the rocks Kirito ripped from the ceiling earlier, and followed her up. One by one, Asuna sent the broken rocks flying toward Trentyn, and each were met by a cut from one of his blades.

She finally approached her enemy, and tried cutting down his center as the Sith opposition blocked her strike with a cross block. Trentyn twirled around to build his momentum, then sent both of his lightsabers swinging for Asuna's side, but the nimble Form-II specialist deflected them with ease, and created more space between the two foes.

Asuna knew what had to be done to get the best of Darth Trentyn. She allowed him to make the next strike, then brought her blade quickly up to block his off handed attack. She used the power in her arms to not only block his in-coming attacks, but also to push him back more to try and knock him off balance. He came in constantly trying to beat her down like a worker hammering a nail into the ground, but when he brought that much power, Asuna simply stepped out of the way and let his follow through fly past her body.

She did catch up on one strike, however, and just as his right hand came down with impressive force, he pulled back, and swung at her with his left. Asuna kicked the handle out of his right hand, and sliced the left down with a swift cut from her saber.

Trentyn used his free hands to push her back to the center of the room, then launched himself at her while grabbing his only remaining weapon with the Force. Asuna tried powering up a bout of Force lightning, but Trentyn came in too hot, and blocked her attack to the right with his saber. He used his free hand to grab her by the neck with telepathy, and launched her to the other half of the room's center circle. She flew through a pile of bones, and just as she turned to power on her defenses, Trentyn stood over her to bring the hammer down.

"You're unhinged." He said with tension in his voice. "Your rage has left you unbalanced. You finally get the chance to fight me again, and you're not looking up to the task."

His eyes darted around the room as he noticed Kirito climbing up the steps to his own safety, then they returned to a slightly struggling Asuna.

"You let your beloved apprentice fall to my blade. You stood and watched as I stabbed your pathetic fiancé in the side. I may die by your hand, tonight, but as of right now, he may too."

"AGH!" Asuna yelled a battle cry filled with visceral hate, and sent a shockwave of dark air and bones flying through the room from her feet. Trentyn flipped back through the debris, and landed on two feet as Asuna charged up and sprinted for his body. They locked blades again, but Trentyn was taking the role of defender as Asuna bashed and hacked her way to his core.

"I've followed you throughout the galaxy on missions and battles to study your every move." Trentyn was starting to take things serious as well. "The very eye you took from me was replaced with a tool used to study your downfall. I know all your strengths and weaknesses. I know you as a glorious fighter, Darth Rosario! DO YOU KNOW ME!?"

"I KNOW YOU'RE A SECOND-RATE FIGHTER COMPARED TO YOUR EMPEROR!" Asuna swung her blade over his head, and slammed it back down on him as he blocked the attack for her to carry on.

"I also know that if he chose me as his apprentice over his best friend and lead combat developer, then that really says more about your fighting skills than anything else."

"LIES!" Trentyn howled with anger as the room shook first from repeated quakes by the Shock Drum, but again as now Trentyn was releasing his anger onto the battlefield. He held his weapon down, and shot a concentrated column of Force lightning for Asuna, who used her own open hand to catch it, and charged her own power to match his pace.

Both Sith Warriors stood in a shaking room of black and blue as lightning flew everywhere, and as the yellow in both their eyes glowed through the dark of the cave, more and more rocks fell from the ceiling to crush the ground down below.

Then the ground stopped moving, and both enemies stopped their concentrated attack to notice the Shock Drum had ceased its relentless battering of the cave.

"What!?" Trentyn yelled out as he looked around the hall. "Why did it stop!?"

"Kirito." Asuna noticed the boy was no longer in the room with them, and saw he managed to take one of his lightsabers into the chamber with the Shock Drum, most likely beating it with a single blow.

She also noticed Kirito's other weapon was not down there with him. Asuna started off with a nimble sprint toward Trentyn on the other side of the room, but as he saw her approaching, the mighty Sith enemy shot out an even more powerful attack of electric energy to take her down, stun or kill.

Asuna never changed her determined expression, and tossed her curved lightsaber to the side as the lightning attack from Trentyn's hands followed it like a lightning rod in a thunder storm. She leapt heroically into the air, flipping over a now befuddled Trentyn as she collected all her concentration at the spot Kirito laid over before he left for the device.

As she landed, Asuna kept her body facing away from Trentyn, but reached back and extended a hand toward the Sith Marauder. Before he could turn around, Kirito's remaining left lightsaber shot across the room, and sliced Trentyn's body into two pieces, severing his torso from his trembling legs. She caught the lightsaber after the strike.

Asuna listened to the sad man whimper in pain, then placed Kirito's weapon at her side, retrieving her own from the edge of the arena using her telepathy. She stuck the point under his now shivering chin, and locked her copper beaten eyes firmly with his.

"Darth Trentyn." A chill left her voice that would have even quelled Mustafar. "I told you it would happen by my blade."

Asuna verified that her lightsaber would be the one to take his life, and severed his head from the broken torso of Darth Trentyn with a light flick of her wrist. She put her weapon aside, and ran for the corridor now covered in rock and ruin, and used all the Force power she could to clear out just enough of an entrance to find her missing Kirito.

Asuna emerged to find a very bizarre sight as she entered the chamber with the broken Shock Drum. Kirito sat down passively next to the control console as the machine before her held no marks, lacerations, or bruises. Kirito chose instead to disarm the bomb, much like Leafa before him, which left a very odd taste in Asuna's mouth.

"You're alive. And you chose not to destroy the Shock Drum."

"I am, and I didn't." Kirito was holding onto his side, but a soft smile assured Asuna that the defeated boy would somehow be alright. "The Republic made this for a reason, and Sugu chose to keep it alive for some greater purpose. I'm sure it'll be important to either faction somewhere down the road."

"Yea." She rolled her eyes. "Like allowing the faction your fighting against threaten each other with treason."

Kirito let Asuna help him up, and put and arm around her shoulders while the Sith Lady carried him to the exit of the cave. "Congrats on beating your rival, too! What I saw from it was a pretty brutal fight."

"Yea, lots of emotion..." Asuna kept her eyes away from Kirito, and tried to quell her once wild emotions back to their stoic state from before. She used her compassion for Kirito to overpower Trentyn, but was it because she saw him as her up and coming apprentice, or was it something more. Could they really be a loving husband and wife in some other world?

* * *

Klein sat on the edge of a very tense conference meeting between members of the Republic leadership aboard a command cruiser. Master Amun-din, Agil, and Chrysheight commanded most of the discussion, but several other Jedi and Commanders from the faction voiced their opinions now and again as they each developed a plan to win the war.

"Use the Bounty Hunter to get us into Korriban! They probably expect us to his Dromund Kaas first anyway. We'll have the element of surprise!"

"No!" Yelled out another voice. "Make her tell us what she was doing invading Coruscant in the first place! She should pay for taking the lives of Republic soldiers at the casino fight!"

"We need to find Kirito." Master Agil interjected. "The first business we'll be asking the captive is the whereabouts of the player Kirito."

"If he's even still alive." Chrysheight kept a finger underneath his chin. "If we find Kirito, then we'll probably be able to find Asuna as well. We can get our boy back, and take out the Empire's Wrath all in one."

"You were just planning on using Kirito as bait to get Asuna all along?" Silica asked out with uncertainty hanging on her voice. "But you said they were really close in the real world! Does he know he's betraying her too?"

"I don't believe so." Amun-din looked at Chrysheight. "From what I gathered, Master Chrysheight told Kirito to try and turn the Wrath to our side. He thinks she can be saved from my brother's mind control." She then turned to Silica with unapologetic eyes.

"Kirito is not a member of the Republic, either way. He is no Jedi, or Sith. He holds no allegiance to anyone. It's best if we use him where we can, and carry on with our own goals."

"Your own goals." Klein had heard enough from the ground, and finally stood. "Look, when I found out I was brainwashed into fighting a war for the Republic, that was pretty shocking news, no small thanks to Kirito for feeding me the red pill on that one. But you come in here claiming that our minds are erased, yet we still have our free will. Say what you want to about your brother. He knows what he's doing to his men, even if they are mindless killing machines."

Amun-din was taken back by Klein's rage, and had no reply while Silica stepped up to confront her even more. "For that matter, do you even know what it's like to fight a war with no cause, then you find out that half the enemy side is actually made up of your best friends in the real world? You can't remember their names, their faces, their laughs, the moments you shared. It's too much to handle when it all comes at you at once..."

"Klein and Silica are right." Agil stepped in to try and mediate between the Master and the smugglers. "And that includes Kirito. He said it himself, we're all his friends. Then he risks his life to get to the other side of the war, and tries to save his girl? There has to be an easier way to win this game than using the two of them like pawns."

Silence fell over the hall, and all the faces lowered, while Chrysheight's sat up just a hair above the rest to study the demeanor of the room. No person took the time to form a reply, but an unlikely pair of guards joined the conversation with a surprise guest of all things.

"That idiot Klein's right. Apparently, we're all friends in the real world, so we need to stick together."

Everyone turned dramatically as Lisbeth was set inside a chair at the end of the table. Her hands were still locked, but her eyes looked rather calm as she carried on in her thoughts. "Asuna is really powerful, but she can be reasoned with. Give me time ta talk with her, and maybe send in your smuggler friends to play with Kirito. If you really want to beat Emperor Lusac, you're going to need them on your side. Double-crossing them isn't the best way to do that."

"Hmm..." Agil sounded intrigued. "You want us to release you, then send you and the Smugglers back into Imperial space to try and unite the forces? That might be the boldest thing I've ever heard in this game so far."

Lisbeth judged Agil's smile, and realized he was complimenting her as she leaned back casually. "Hey, your Republic dweebs aren't the only ones who can string up diplomatic solutions. Not all aggression from our side."

"Ha!" Chrysheight sound even more entertained now. "Smuggling in the bounty hunter back to her own side, then rescue the bride and groom from their honeymoon! I like it!" He powered on the command table, and moved around a few map icons while he finished his idea. "The three of us can wait with the fleet, and once you give us the others, we'll attack either Korriban or Dromund Kaas on your orders."

Everyone was slowly starting to fall in to agreement, even though Amun-din still kept a controlled, calculating emotion around her.

"Can you find where Asuna is, currently?" Amun-din asked Lisbeth. "We have no way of reaching out to Kirigaya."

"Psh!" Lisbeth waved a hand after the guards came in to release her binds. "I know this galaxy like the back of my hand, and I developed trackers to locate all my friends. Just get me a good ship, and we'll be off."

"Well, the _Salamander_ is still on Coruscant, so we'd have to take the _Pina_." Silica sounded a little sad for Klein's sake, but the cocky smuggler just gave his smaller companion a nod.

"Bah! Let's save my beast for the final fight. You're ship's better for stealth. We can use it to get Lisbeth over to Asuna."

Everyone nodded, and cheered rambunctiously, all while Chrysheight stood from his chair, and clapped his hands together to signify the start of their operation.

"Then it's decided! May the Force be with us all!"

Lisbeth had to keep her laugh to herself as she found the closing remarks to be a bit cheesy, but as she stood, a softly smiling Klein greeted he with a wink.

"Hey, thanks for the idea. I knew you bounty hunters weren't all that bad."

"Hmph." Lisbeth kept walking as a flair of red took her face. "Just let me take a nap on the way to the love birds, and we won't have to see each other that much for the rest of the trip."

Silica awkwardly followed a laughing Klein and angry Lisbeth, but Amun-din lingered back at the table as the rest of the commanding officers dispersed to their own scenes. She found it ironic that Lisbeth boasted of using tracking devices to find her friends, because the device that she used to keep an eye on Kirito across the galaxy seemed to be far more technologically advanced.

The Grand Jedi Master, and lead creative developer for Immortal Gaming had a plan for finding the missing Kirito and Asuna, and whether the others saw them as friends or not, the two of them were still hand-picked by her father to win this game, which means her brother would try to find them too. If Lusac was so worried about losing this war though, Amanda had every right to defend her faction from the two heroes of Aincrad as well.

* * *

 **Trentyn is dead, and the Republic is going to use Lisbeth to find Kirito and Asuna. Amun-din seems like she's trying to care for the trapped heroes, but something's off about her methods...**

 **Until Next Time!**


	30. 29: A Mind with a Heart of its Own

**Author's Note: Here is chapter 29! If you're wondering why I added two chapters today, or if you got two separate alerts for two separate updates, the reason is because I added a small chapter to the beginning. I wanted to make the story fit the Star Wars style more, so I'll just let you go back and find it...**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Nine - A Mind with a Heart of its Own

* * *

"Darth Trentyn, dead by your own blade."

Emperor Lusac addressed Darth Rosario over a hologram transmission as her cruiser flew off the surface from Tatooine. He was safely on Dromund Kaas, while she was moving her garrison to another corner of the galaxy.

"Yes, he attempted to betray the Empire and failed." Asuna had mentioned to Lusac earlier how Trentyn used their armies as hostages to get her into the cave for their duel, and explained how the call for her aid was just a ploy to damage her reputation and her new apprentice.

Lusac sighed. "My own friend from the real world...brought down by my apprentice. I suppose I never imagined a Republic soldier would be the one to take him down..." He kept his arms crossed, and tried to conduct his own conclusion on the matter.

"He was a fool." Lusac spat out over the hologram message. "He spent too much time focused on your rivalry than the greater good of the Empire. That's what separated the two of you. That is why you took my side instead of him, and it's also why you're still alive."

"I thank you for understanding." Asuna kept her head down as she continued kneeling in thanks.

Lusac raised an eyebrow. "And your acolyte. The boy Kirito was the one to disarm the bomb. I hear you left Trentyn's men with the Shock Drum?"

"I instructed them to deliver the weapon to you as you asked, My Lord. When they found out their leader turned them into hostages, they were rather quick to work with me."

"And they will be again." Lusac demanded. "I'll see they return to you after they arrive on Dromund Kaas with the weapon. Add them to your fleet. You've earned their allegiance."

Asuna smiled, and nodded her head, but Lusac was not done.

"And the boy, Kirito. I take it you plan to reward him in my name?"

"I do." Asuna admitted. "We're having a feast for him on board the _Mother's Rosario_ right after I'm through here."

"We?" Lusac corrected her. "Or you?"

Asuna had no idea how to take that, which left room for her superior to carry out his wisdom. "My sweet Lady Rose, be mindful. Do not let the boy Kirito sway you with any degree of charm. If you cannot handle him as an apprentice in the proper manner, then I will happily take him under my wing as you suggested in the beginning of all this."

"I'm not sure what you're implying." She was starting to grow testy in front of her Emperor. "Are you worried that I've developed feelings for him?"

"Well," Lusac chuckled. "There must have been some merit to Trentyn's assault against the two of you on Tatooine. He made a note to tell me that much after your arrival to Mos Ila, just before your confrontation. The two of you appear to be rather... _close_ now. You even let him slay the headmaster of _my_ academy."

"An academy you placed _me_ in-charge of." She retorted. "I've been free with my approach for training Kirito because his potential seems to shine when left to his own devices. The Dark Side inside him grows more and more every time he's kept off his leash."

"Just make sure to keep a hold of the leash, My Lady." Lusac kept his head high in the hologram. "I will not lose you to my father the same way that I almost lost him. Kirito was meant to be _his_ agent...Remember that."

Asuna kept her mouth closed as they both signed off on the message. She stood from her position and turned for the door as she made her way out of her chambers.

"If one more person insinuates that I have feelings for Kirito, I'll end their life, myself."

Now at a rather ornate dinner table for two, Kirito sat alone with a starstruck view of the black space sky out a great bay window on the upper deck of the _Mother's Rosario_. He thought to himself where they were in the galaxy, but grew distracted the moment Asuna returned to her seat after stepping out for an alert.

"Welcome back." Kirito spoke with charm. "Did your boss man take his news well?"

"Huh?" Asuna was lost in a thought as she sat back down at the table. "O-oh, yes, he was happy to hear what we did. He's quite thankful that you kept the bomb in-tact. We're sending it to him for research on Dromund Kaas."

"Honestly I'm pretty sure it's the same one from the 2012 game." Kirito embarrassingly admitted. "They could just tell one of the players not trapped in a Holocron unit to log off and look up information on the web."

"Okay." Asuna took her fork and knife, and continued with her meal. "Then you can deliver that message to Lusac once we're done eating."

"Hey, don't make me do it!" Kirito raised his hands defensively. "He's not my Emperor. Come to think of it, I find it a little weird that the guy is so obsessed with us, even though we've never met before."

"No." Asuna thought to herself. "He's not your Emperor, is he...Kirito, what exactly are you fighting for in this game?"

"Me?" He wondered why she had to ask. "I'm trying to get you and the others out of here. Peter Mathis has let this game go too far, and we need to log out and stop him and his kids before people start to seriously get hurt."

"Still concerned with Peter Mathis..." Asuna tried to forget everything her beloved Emperor had to say earlier. "Did you act this unruly with the Republic?"

"Eh, I wasn't with them that much longer than this." Kirito admitted as he started eating again as well. "Klein and the guys I know were able to handle me pretty well, but Amanda and I kind of rubbed off on one another in a bad manner. Not to mention..."

He went to discuss the paradoxical addition that was Seijirou Kykuoka, but he felt it would be best to keep that bit of information from Asuna and the rest of the Empire. "Anyway, we had one or two small trips together. Klein and I escaped a Sith juggernaut orbiting a mining planet, we stopped bounty hunters on Coruscant. Fought a band of rogue smugglers on our way from Tython, and then we joined the war on Alderaan."

"Right." Asuna nodded, and tried to stay quiet about killing Leafa. "So...what about the other games?"

"Huh? Other games?" Kirito sounded confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what about the two of us? You and me. What kind of missions did we go on in other games? Everyone in the Galaxy keeps saying we know each other in the real world..."

"Well, I wouldn't really call them missions...more like adventures!" Kirito's recently tainted Sith heart was showing its lighter side once again as his face lit up with energy. "You and I were part of a big assault group in another game called Sword Art Online. You were in charge of a large player guild with the creator of the game, but we never knew that at the time. I mainly played alone until the last few floors. Klein, Agil, Lisbeth, Silica, we all fought bosses together to try and log out of the game."

"I don't get it." Asuna was letting herself get drawn in by his miraculous story. "We weren't allowed to log out, like in here? How long did we play?"

"Two years." Kirito normally hated bringing it back up, but he figured this information was better than anything else he had to try and turn Asuna back to normal. "This game's a little less heavy on the stakes though. Players that died in SAO were killed in the real world...it's one of the few reasons that's let me go through this game as calmly as I have. I still don't really know what happens when players die in TORO though."

"They're frozen to the computers in Immortal Gaming's servers." Asuna said with an oddly calm tone. "Lusac said his team runs more studies on them as they wait for the PVP game to end. Brain tests, emotional readings. They're trying to study gamers as they full-dive using the Holocron."

"That's sick." Kirito was growing angry again. "How many people have died in-game using the Holocrons so far?"

"Oh not very many. Remember, Holocrons were given to some of the best players in the world. Not to mention it opens up a world of possibilities that normal gameplay doesn't have. It makes sense for most of the 1000 test subjects to still be alive. I'd say your Master Leafa is probably the best player using one to actually lose her life..."

She stopped herself there, and looked down at her food to change the subject, but silence was the only thing to follow once Kirito caught what she was trying to do.

"Asuna." He said with sympathy in his voice. "Do you realize you're not like the other Sith players?"

"I don't know what you mean?" Her face was turning the same color as her lightsaber's blade, and the gold in her eyes was possibly starting to match the original brown they once were.

Kirito cracked a soft smile. "You show sympathy. Sure, you mainly treat me nice because I'm your student, or whatever. You know when to be ruthless, but you also know when to be thoughtful. Like on Tatooine. A Sith character from the real Star Wars would have called Trentyn's bluff and gotten themselves off the planet. You ensured your men's safety before taking out the enemy all on your own."

"My soldiers are not my friends, or anything. Just soldiers." She tried to argue as she took a quick sip from her drink. "The Holocron users are easier to manipulate, thanks to Lusac. I guess he was on to something, even if I might be a victim of the same trick."

"What about Lisbeth? Or Sinon?" Kirito argued back. "You know Lisbeth went missing after we left for Tatooine. I heard you and Sinon talk about getting her back. Heck, the two of them were stranded in Coruscant after a failed attempt to get a device from the Senate, and you sent them a rescue ship nonetheless! I tried to talk with Sinon, myself, but she won't even look at me..."

"Stop that!" Asuna slammed her cup down. "If I wanted to lose valuable soldiers to a mission, I would have left them for dead, and been replaced as a leader. I value my cause, and my cause is the Empire. We need what we can and who we can to defeat the Republic players."

"I see..." Kirito used his telepathy to retrieve a bottle of red wine from her side of the table, and after topping her cup off like a true gentleman, he brought it over to fill his glass, and set the bottle down at the center. Both sat for a little while longer in the silence, chewing their food and sipping their wine. Kirito stopped noticing the guards stationed around the room, and leaned back in his seat as he tossed his napkin from his lap onto the table.

"So, where to next?" He asked reluctantly as his eyes wondered beyond the bay window and out into the starry void. "If you're so charged to help your Empire, then I suppose you're taking me back to Korriban for further research?"

"No, I'm not done repaying you." Asuna did her best to keep her emotions hidden as she removed her napkin from her lap as well. "I'm giving you a real gift for all you did back on Tatooine."

"Is dinner not enough?" Kirito gave her a second smile. "I figure you have to be max cooking in this world too."

Asuna ignored that, and looked out the large bay window to watch the passing stars as well. "I know it's not easy to take out former friends you once fought with. I even had a hard time with the logic of cutting down Darth Trentyn at the beginning of our fight, so I can only imagine the feelings you felt after we defeated your Republic friends over the camp..."

Kirito's smile disappeared, and he tried to convince himself to be angry after hearing her bring that up, but Kirito also wanted to hear her arrive to the point.

"That being said, there's a planet with very valuable resources on it reserved for only end-game players. It's so valuable for end-game content, that every two days, the Republic and Empire trade our control over its territory, and we make sure both factions get equal the amount of time to harvest its minerals safely."

"It's like a safe-zone from PVP?" Kirito was surprised to hear Lucas and Amanda would be so kind to each other. "I didn't even know it was possible to disable PvP on the planets."

"It's not disabled. "Asuna was very proud to admit that. "It's just a code of honor held by all the veteran players left in the game, Jedi and Sith. It's also the home to most of the galaxy's saber crystals, and the specific location for some of the rarest lightsaber colors in the game."

"That sounds pretty cool." Kirito perked up in his seat the moment he heard the word rare. "I could use some PVE action after all this player vs player stuff."

Asuna agreed. "It'll be a nice distraction from the rest of the war, and once you see the illuminated caves of crystals all over Ilum, you'll probably never want to leave."

"Ilum?" Kirito actually heard of that planet before eating dinner that night. Ilum was the planet he first discovered after leaving Kayaba behind on Mortis. It was the first planet that started his journey, and the place where he found Klein to meet with the Republic.

He also remembered something Leafa told them all on their way between planets early on. She found time to mention how pretty the crystal caves of Ilum were when the sun went down over the system. Apparently the dark, icy caves light up with brilliant colors of blue, green, purple, and white, and it's been said to be the most romantic scene the galaxy of The Old Republic Online has to offer.

He remembered his original plan now. The reason Seijirou Kikuoka sent him off to Dagobah in the first place. He needed to win Asuna back to his side, and snap her out of the trance held so tightly by the Sith Empire. He needed to make her fall in love with him all over again.

Kirito would get Asuna to look at him the way she used to back in the real world. He needed to set the mood, and use all the manipulations he had up his sleeve thanks to the power of the Force. If Ilum was so irresistibly beautiful, then Ilum would be the perfect place to reconquer the broken heart of his long-lost wife.

* * *

The _Blood Oath_ left the large hanger of the _Mother's Rosario_ as the Imperial fleet from Korriban finally made it to the outer rim system known as Ilum.

The mountainous ice planet Ilum was home to one of the Jedi Order's most distant outposts. Nestled between snow-covered crags was known to be an enclave used by the Jedi for generations, a shelter from the cold and a launching point for journeys into Ilum's exotic crystal caves. These caves were responsible for producing some of the most rare and powerful lightsaber crystals in the galaxy.

Ilum itself hosted no indigenous population, although a number of larger animals survive in its environment. Its temperatures failed to reach the extremes of Hoth, but it had never been a target for colonization or occupation. Currently, end game players used this system as a resource gold mine, and control of the planet's surface switched constantly between the two warring factions.

"Even in a state of total war, this game has quite the impressive economy." Asuna looked out the window of the _Blood Oath_ as her pilot flew her and Kirito to the surface of the icy world. "This version of the Old Republic is different than Bioware's original product. Right now, more of the game's rare crystals can be found on Ilum, but the super rare colors and powerful ones needs to be unlocked before you find them. A lot of players just come to get basic blue and green ones too, though, for some extra credits in the trade center."

"Glad this place has some value, unlike the last frozen wasteland..." Kirito's bones were still chilling after arriving from their previous destination. "Did we really need to stop off at Hoth and go sightseeing before coming here?"

"What, and pass up that gorgeous view from the mountains?" Asuna teased. "I found it easier since we stopped off at Tatooine first. This'll be a little worse since we're going to back-to-back cold worlds."

"Yea, way to remind me..." Kirito crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "So can the Sith get red crystals from Ilum too?"

"I guess, but not from the ground. They'd have to kill other Sith to get them. Red isn't a natural color, and thus, Sith crystals don't spawn in the open world. We're responsible for stealing them from ancient tombs, or making our own."

"That's why you had me loot the catacombs in Korriban." Kirito was starting to understand how the lightsaber colors worked in this world. "So, my purple ones weren't good enough to be in your army, I take it?"

"Ehhh..." Asuna leaned her weight over to one hip, and scanned Kirito's belt. "Purple is okay for Sith Inquisitors, but the color you had was pretty bright. Kinda off for Dark Lords of the Empire to have."

"Hey, I didn't choose it." He defended himself. "I found that color in my tutorial. Mortis was really different, so I guess my color choices were different too."

"Yea, Mortis..." Asuna put a finger underneath her chin. "You mentioned that was the planet you landed on when you logged on. Peter Mathis was waiting for you there."

"Yea, I'd like to find it again when the war is over..." Kirito narrowed his vision, and looked out to the approaching winter winds of Ilum on the horizon. "I have a feeling we're not done with Peter Mathis after the war's been ended."

Asuna felt the weight of that realization, and let her shuttle land before making her own decent onto the frigid world of Ilum. She threw on a dark red Sith cloak to cover her command armor, and Kirito did the same with a black shroud as the door parted, and howling snow and wind entered their frame from the harsh environment outside. Asuna strode out confidently into the snow, and Kirito followed as both of their hoods barely stayed on their heads while they surveyed the land. The winds were still rough, but they eventually died down as the two Sith noticed other advanced players scurrying about the frozen wonderland.

"Our faction still has 36 in-game hours left on Ilum before we leave for the Republic, but some people still get carried away when trying to mine for their goodies." Asuna had no choice but to laugh at the ridiculous Sith players running and flying around the surface of Ilum as day changed to evening for their own adventure to begin.

"Okay," Kirito paused before the two warriors mounted their bikes. "Where exactly are we going? If we're here to find saber crystals, I keep hearing those caves might have a good supply..."

"Psh!" Asuna slid onto her burgundy speeder bike, and tied her hood down more. "We're not here for basic colors. We each need to find something... _unique_. Starting with mine!"

"Are you serious?" Kirito groaned as he mounted his black speeder bike next to her. "You take me here to give me a present for my work on Tatooine, then decided to get yourself something, first?"

"It's not like that!" Asuna laughed, and Kirito was almost fooled that the old girl he fell in love came out to join him again for just a moment. The tactical Asuna returned, though, and carried on explaining. "I just happened to know what I want, and where my desired color is. I love the sharp red of the Sith lightsabers, but now I'm looking for something a little more...me."

They flew through ice and snow as more wind swelled over the frosted fields of the system. Kirito was an excellent speeder pilot, but Asuna's quick turns and lack of directions made her a very hard companion to follow. They passed several Dark Side players throughout their voyage, and when Asuna made the effort to wave to friends of hers now and again. Kirito simply nodded and kept his head slightly lower than usual.

The two finally arrived at a series of rocky crags, cut like prisms piercing the icy floor of the planet's surface. Asuna stopped off at a large glowing rock with a grey based and bright blue geode flashing in the center. Kirito noticed small angular crystals sitting at the bizarre rock's base, and looked around to find no other beings near them, except for a few NPC friendlies.

"Where are we?" Kirito asked with a slight bit of nerves, nicely paired with a chill from the cold air. "These just look like blue crystals to me."

"These are, yes." Asuna knelt down and patted one of the tiny crystals with a frozen substance obtained from Hoth. "But when one of us uses our Hoth water item on these little guys, a max level champion will pop out and give us a duel!"

"Really? That's pretty cool." Kirito smiled as his girlfriend worked around the game's system to discover her Easter egg, but then snapped back to reality as he grabbed both of his saber handles. "Hold on, did you say a max level champion!?"

"Yep!" Asuna stepped back as the main rock started to glow brighter now. She grabbed her curved handle, and turned to face her partner. "Every time I bring a friend out here, they die, and I'm not strong enough to solo it since I'm always geared for PvP. Lis and Sinon hate fighting world bosses with me since they use blasters, but now I have a worthy apprentice to help me out!"

A large, ominous figure flew from the crags of Ilum, and carried two ghostly lightsabers in his hands powered by pure white beams. Asuna let a Sith's grin take her face as her basic red blade turned on, and Kirito followed her into the battle as they flanked the Force Ghost from both sides to start their attack.

Once Kirito weakened the great ghost's legs with several lacerations to his calves, Asuna shot bolts of electricity at the boss's knees, and stunned him to the ground. Kirito easily dispatched the Force Ghost's left arm and blade, while Asuna cut the right from the other side. The both stabbed the beast from either side of its torso, and turned the world boss to a fallen pile of frost and rock. Several pieces glowed brighter than the others, though, and this is where Asuna's face lit up like Kirito remembered in the good old days.

"I found it!" Asuna picked up a brighter red-shaded item from the pile, and dusted it off to reveal a brilliant magenta-colored saber crystal resting in her hand. "This was a rare color for lightsabers when the Old Republic first came out in the early 2010s. After a while it lost its value because of farming advances and the stores offered to players, but in this VR version of the game, it's one of the rarest colors offered to a Sith player."

"Wow, it is pretty...eh, pretty! I suppose." Kirito laughed at his own joke, and gave his friend a congratulatory nod of approval. "Now let's find me a cool color and get off this dreary rock!"

"Thank you again for helping me through that, Kirito." Asuna provided her helper with a genuine smile, unlike her Dark Side's usual attitude. "Trentyn usually laughed whenever I talked about getting this color for my lightsaber. I really had no one to help me out here."

"I can only imagine." Kirito tried to tease her further. "After all, his blood orange sabers were pretty cool."

"Don't ruin your invitation." Asuna ignored his tease, and hopped back on her bike. "Now, for you I'm thinking...we could look through some of the caves to try and find you something! I know there are some excellent dark purple colors that would fit a Sith Warrior fighting at my side!"

 _*BOOM*_

Both players heard a loud explosion coming back from the Imperial's main base. They ran around a side of the hill to try and make out what looked like a pile of smoke rising from a building, and then gathered their mounts for a quick trip back to see what the commotion was. As they arrived, both friends were taken by an unexpected surprise.

"The Republic!?"

Asuna shouted with a slightly violent anger, and a bit of heartbreak as she saw several Victory-class cruisers enter the atmosphere of Ilum. She noticed her Mother's Rosario was now being joined by several other ships in the Korriban fleet, but an obnoxious dog fight had taken the skies of the once tranquil Ilum, while players on the ground were facing off against Republic foot soldiers invading their time to harvest minerals.

"I don't get it!" Kirito shouted over to Asuna as a second explosion let loose in their direction. "I thought you said The Sith have this planet for another day and a half?!"

"We do!" She sent a few laser bolts back to their dimwitted owners as two Republic vanguards met their fate to the hand of the Empire's Wrath. "These lousy Jedi are breaking our terms of agreement!"

She cut down more approaching Jedi, and Kirito reluctantly followed as he tried to only take the lives of those who threatened his own health. His defensive style of sword play was still just enough to take out the Republic's foot soldiers, but both expert fighters were growing more and more confused as swarms of Jedi fighters flooded the valley.

"This isn't normal." Asuna was convinced something was off. "Why would the Republic choose to attack Ilum now of all times. They get the planet in a few days, and nothing of any value is here."

"Nothing...except you."

She turned to see an even more worried Kirito looking at the downpour of ships from above. "Yulier and Thinker told me their mission on Tatooine wasn't to take the planet. They were asked to capture Sith leaders. They wanted Darth Trentyn for interrogation back on Coruscant. They probably want to take you captive. That way they're one step closer to bringing Emperor Lusac down."

"Me?" Asuna was lost in that thought. "But how would they know I'm here on Ilum? We can't track players from other factions!"

Kirito was worried that he had no answer to that half of the question. He led her around a cliffside to get a better view of the battlefield, but noticed the fight was picking up way too fast even for seasoned veterans like them.

"We need to get to the _Blood Oath_ , and get out of here. They probably want me as much as they want you. I haven't bothered checking in with the Republic ever since I left for my mission. They no doubt suspect me of turning my cloak over to the Sith."

"Your mission?" Asuna lingered on that phrase as Kirito tried to find the ship. "What was the mission they sent you on...?"

 _*BLAST*_

Kirito deflected a large blaster bolt from the sky, and took Asuna by the hand as they both slid down the hill and onto the Sith' primary docking port. The ramp to the _Blood Oath_ was still down, and as the two Sith warriors slashed through the aloof Jedi guards, Asuna slid into the pilot's chair, and buckled herself in.

"When we get back to my cruiser, I want you to come clean to everything you're hiding from me. Starting with why the hell Lisbeth found you on Korriban in the first place."

"Asuna." Kirito watched the battle erupt all around them as his heart skipped several beats in their escape. "If we get back to your cruiser, I'll tell you all the secrets I know about the Republic, and anything else you ask for, but..."

"But?" Asuna slid around several shots as she maneuvered the large Sith Infiltrator around gun fire and snow. "But what?"

"But..." He paused a brief moment as his Force sensitive clairvoyance finally kicked in. "I don't think we'll make it back just yet."

She took a second to catch what he said, because as the words left Kirito's lips, two rockets hit their shuttle, and sent Asuna and her confusing apprentice through the sky in a blaze of fire, and down through a series of rocky cave openings jutting from the side of a low mountain to the north. Their ship pierced a large whole in the surface of the earth, which left them to free fall through a natural cave only illuminated by the ominous glowing crystals, and the fiery death from above as evening turned to night.

* * *

 **The relationship between Kirito and Asuna seems to be very similar to the one they had in Aincrad now, before they were married. Hopefully this goes well!**

 **New chapter soon! Until then!**


	31. 30: Across the Stars

**Author's Note: Chapter 30! Sorry for the extra delay...I wanted this one to be _juuust_ right. Also, pay close attention to the title of this chapter...and enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty - Across the Stars

* * *

Klein controlled the ebb and sway of the _Pina_ with relative ease as snow and ice collected around the windshield. Several shots from enemy fighters passed over the hull, but Silica provided herself as an excellent call-out as she told which fighters Klein need to shoot, and in what order.

Lisbeth hated seeing these two Republic Smugglers taking out her good friends over the skies of Ilum, but the war was looking rather even-sided as the three gunmen tried to study their radar while dodging the incoming artillery.

"Any luck, Lis?" Klein was trying to keep things normal between the two of them since they were still on opposite sides of the war. "The sooner we find Kirito, the sooner we can get the hell out of this place."

"No kidding." Silica barely wanted to keep looking as more and more forces showed up on both sides. "I want to know which Republic general is leading our assault. I thought we were going into this alone."

"That was the plan...morons." Lisbeth leaned over her armrest with a slightly angry expression starting to take shape over her face. "Your lousy command council said it would just be us three, then they'd wait for our next orders."

"Well, technically it was just the Chrysheight dude, and he's a little weird anyway..." Klein tried to figure out what was going on in the heads of the Republic command. "Still, we only sent the three of us to keep tensions with Kirito and the Sith girl low. This will totally blow up in our faces if Kirito thinks it's our fault!"

"Geesh, ya think he's your worst problem?" Lisbeth's skin started to tingle as she tried to repress her worst memories of the mighty Empire's Wrath. "I once watched Asuna duel another Sith Lord just for making a girl joke. The dude even lost his eye on that one."

"I dunno..." Silica felt a haunting memory slide in as she tried to collect everything she had heard about Kirito. "I noticed Kirito went pretty crazy when Leafa was killed on Alderaan."

"No kidding." Klein barrel-rolled around a set of missiles aimed for their bow. "Plus there was the time he used that crazy attack on your sniper buddy back at the Coruscant casino."

"That was him?" Lisbeth barely remembered running into the greyed-out boy in the basement of that building, then remembered the attack he unleashed as described by Sinon the next day. "Yikes...maybe they really are husband and wife. A true match made in freak heaven."

"I think it's just a gamer thing." Silica laughed. "They're probably just dating in the real world."

"Anyway..." Klein tried to get the two girls back on track while they wizzed through the blurry skies of Ilum. "Tell me when we even get a small whiff of the kid on our scanners. Worst case, just see if you can send Asuna a PM!"

"That second one's a 'No' from me." Lisbeth shook her head. "I sent her a message once we left Coruscant. Still haven't heard back from...hold on, I think I caught something."

Lisbeth sat up, and noticed a faint glow coming from the northern end of her radar. She had Klein pass over the violent valley of the Sith camp being destroyed down below, and soon enough the three pilots noticed a column of fire and smoke coming out of the tallest mountain over the surrounding area.

"HA!" Lisbeth pointed out the hole, and patted her chauffeur roughly on the back. "All right, Smuggler-Boy! Get this thing on the ground, and let's find us a married couple!"

"Ugh..." Klein hated being slapped on the back by Lisbeth, and took no time in landing his craft somewhere secluded. "I may just send the two of you down there alone...I think I'm needing a break from this truce we started."

* * *

Asuna Yuuki sat on a wide, grassy knoll that stretched over a large hill overseeing a great green valley of tall trees, lively plains, and tiny lights showing where small towns were trying to stay awake. It was nighttime in the Japanese countryside, and the Setegaya native was sitting on quite the cozy blanket while a tent and motorbike rested a good distance behind her back. The only light available to her and her companion were the stars above, and small lights out too far for them to see. A slight breeze left the air cool, but the company she held was more than warm enough for her to enjoy the night.

"You were right, it gets dark up here." Asuna was wearing normal clothes from back in Japan. She looked out over the expansive hillside of Mount Doudaria, and tried to collect everything she could with her wide brown eyes.

"Yea," Kirito sat right beside her, dressed in regular clothes as well, and turned to view the sky as a small gadget on his shoulder turned with him. "Can you see, Yui?"

"Yep!" A small voice that surprised Asuna lit up from the little piece of equipment strapped to her host's shoulder, and let out a nice emotional reply as she scanned the night's sky above. "I can see just fine, daddy! The color balance is skewing a little green overall."

Asuna drew her face in and chuckled lightly, then hugged her knees toward her chest. "For a while there, I didn't think we'd get to come here...oh, and in the end, I left without telling my mom."

"What!?" That took Kirito by surprise. He hated the idea of taking Asuna out with the Yuuki's permission. Especially knowing the temper of Asuna's stern mother.

Asuna let out several laughs as she watched Kirito react, but the black hair boy chose to speak again. "You're kidding right?"

They both stopped and looked at one another, then Kirito calmed himself, and smiled. "I'll talk to her when we get back."

The friends were both looking at the starry sky again. Several seconds passed away as they both took in their views, and Kirito slowly brought up a new conversation while he had his brief chance.

"Do you remember what we promised each other back in Aincrad, now?"

"What?" Asuna was still in a playful mood. "To go star gazing...?"

Kirito was slow to reply. "Well...yea, t-that was part of it..."

Asuna enjoyed teasing her company too much, and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Hehe, I'm kidding! I remember. You said if we ever got out, you'd give me a real ring."

She kept moving, and turned to hand Kirito a small blue package wrapped in a thin pink bow. It was sealed with a red heart sticker.

"Here, for you!"

"U-um..." Kirito had no idea what to say, and was a little confused now that Asuna stole all of his momentum.

Asuna argued back, even though Kirito never said actual words in his reaction. "It's not fair if you're the only one handing out presents, so I got you one!"

Kirito smiled without control over his emotions, and took the gift quickly. You could tell by the look in his eyes that he truly appreciated Asuna more than any gift she could possibly give him. "Thank you."

Asuna was the one to fail in an actual reply this time, and instead continued to beam as she held out a clenched fist. Opening her hands slowly, the girl revealed a small golden band with a teardrop-shaped diamond. She currently had a hard time remembering the significance of the shape, but let the moment carry out as she looked up at Kirito.

"This time put it on my finger...and this time, for real."

Kirito's eyes grew wider than Asuna had ever seen, and a small bit of air seemed to lift the boy up a few inches as he let out a large smile. He gave her a firm nod as she presented her out-stretched hand, and Kirito firmly placed the ring snugly on her left index finger.

Asuna let him place the ring on her finger, but as she did a flutter of emotions took her chest. She pulled up her right hand, and closed it to her heart, and as the ring slid on her ring finger her head drew back slightly as her own heart skipped a beat. Now holding up her hand to see that the ring had settled, she accepted Kirito's right hand as they slid their fingers together to hold on another in a quick embrace.

Asuna's eyes instinctively shut on their own, and as her body leaned forward, Kirito matched her every move, and let his face hover just over her's. They moved in closer and closer, until the small voice chiming from Kirito's shoulder let out yet another distracting cry.

"Look! A shooting star!"

Asuna and Kirito's eyes flew open, and while both the young friends gasped for air, they turned to look at the sky. They kept holding onto each other's hand, but the sights above them in the starry sky above were unlike anything they had ever seen in the real world. Shooting stars passed over head time after time, and lit up like streaking ships soaring across the galaxy.

"Wow..." Asuna was almost speechless.

The little girl's voice cheered out again. "Amazing!"

The three beings were momentarily left in total awe and silence, but that would not totally distract the two friends from their previous intentions as Kirito and Asuna both turned and smiled at one another. Asuna's memory was beginning to go blurry, but she noticed she and Kirito leaned in to whisper something as the stars passed over head. Her reaction to whatever he said was pleasant, because it prompted her to laugh at his remark soon after.

Then, they finally leaned in, and embraced one another in the only way two romantic lovers can.

But soon after, Asuna the Sith Lord's eyes opened violently as her lungs were taken back by the cold air and her dangerous fall from the sky. She sat up with a quick speed, and looked around to find her ship scattered across the frozen ground of the Ilum cave system. Small fires gave her a faint bit of light, but her head was still spinning too much for her to actually see anything in the dark of the cavern.

"What the hell was I just doing?" The confused Dark Lord of the Sith wondered where her mind ran off to in that small but ample dream of hers just moments ago, and while her arms and legs were starting to freeze with the cool air, her chest and face were flushed with warmth and emotion.

"The hill...that little girl...Kirito." Asuna tried to decipher more memories from the dream, but the distant layout of Mount Doudaria made no sense to her now in a galaxy far far away. Asuna stood tall, even with her legs sore from the crash, and swung her red lightsaber on to guide a path through the subterranean passage.

"I need to find Kirito...I need him to tell me about what I just saw."

* * *

Kirito was walking through the cave on his own accord. He apparently got separated from Asuna as their ship flew through the expansive crater of Ilum's upper mountains. His red lightsabers guided him along a bumpy path, and no signs or sounds from the outside world could be heard in the frozen depths he was trapped in now.

"I need to find Asuna." He mirrored her language, even as far away as they were from each other. "I need to explain everything to her. She probably thinks the Republic attack is my fault...what if they're tracking me here, somehow, and it _is_ my fault?"

His red lightsabers did not make the best color for walking through a cave, and the dense white core centered at the middle of the blade stole most of the view from his peripheral vision. Kirito passed a few oddly placed green crystals now and again, occasionally with blues mixing themselves in here and there. Even as deep as he felt, the wondrous crystal caves of Ilum were turning out to be picked clean in this sector of the planet.

"Great. The caves on this planet are all famous for crystals, and I get trapped in the one that's totally empty. Just my luck."

He climbed a steep ledge once he heard the sound of dripping water, and was forced to put his weapons away as he blindly grabbed what he could within the glowing green of the cave. The moment his head emerged over the upper ledge's new, expansive chamber his heart stopped beating as his eyes opened up like giant saucers.

The ceiling, walls, and all sorts of speleothem structures were coated to the last inch by wondrous jewels of green, blue, purple and gold. Brilliant white crystals were dotted in the mix as well, and all the sparkling gemstones produced a faint glow that reflected off the still underground lake that sat at the edge of his feet. He held no words or remark for the beauty before him, and now realized why experienced players from throughout the galaxy traveled to this system for extracting rare minerals.

"I don't believe it..." Kirito was still left in awe even as words poured from his lips. "I thought Sugu was just over-exaggerating."

He thought to himself, just as his cousin once told him before her death, the caves of Ilum looked like a starry sky. The natural light within each force crystal matched the blackened blue of the cave rock so wondrously, that a mural of the starry heavens was painted over his head, and when paired with the glassy waters at his feet, it surrounded him with an expansive view of a miniature galaxy all to his own.

The star-struck boy's eyes were lost in the wonder around his view. He remembered Asuna wanted them to travel to this planet so they would each get a new color for their lightsaber. Kirito, though, did not care about any of that. There was only one thing he wanted to do here in the mysterious caves of Ilum.

"I need to find Asuna...I need her to see this place with her own eyes."

* * *

Over the scene of Ilum, Admiral Sinon was barely holding on to her sanity as she tried to scramble all the reinforcements that she could aboard the _Mother's Rosario._ Anti-air ship batteries shot large blaster bolts from the side of her vessil, and the great space naval confrontation lit the night skies of Ilum with a fiery glow.

"Get more men down to pick up the stranded Sith players! We need to evacuate before we lose our Holocron players!"

"But Ma'am, what if we lose Ilum?" Shouted out a lieutenant to her right.

"We don't need it!" She tried to explain herself after taking command of her own laser canon. "Saving our players is far more important than this planet. We cannot lose a single man to this assault!"

"No, you can't."

Sinon felt a drastic chill take her skin, and turned to find a walking hologram droid coming towards her topped with the frightening image of Emperor Lusac.

"Admiral Sinon. Where can I find Lady Rose?"

"Asuna?" Sinon tried to calm her nerves as the Emperor kept his eyes glued to her face. "She's down on the surface of the planet. We believe her shuttle was shot down trying to evacuate the camp."

"The _Blood Oath_ was shot down?" He sounded genuinely surprised to hear that. "I take it that boy was with her? Were they gone together on a mission?"

"I'm not sure what they were doing." She turned away to shoot out a Jedi fighter flying past her window. "I also don't know why the Republic came to attack us right now."

"You may have a rotten egg in your basket, somewhere within your ranks."

"No, we found and killed the smuggler girl back over Korriban." Sinon thought back to Alicia getting the best of her, and capturing Lisbeth with Klein and Silica.

Lusac corrected his suggestion. "No, not a spy. Someone has been compromised. My sister has been able to capture someone within your fleet. That is the only way you would have been discovered by her forces."

"I have no idea who would be tracked by Master Amun-din, and as far as I can tell our fleet hasn't had contact with the Republic since..."

Lusac already knew the answer, and was waiting for his underling to catch his suggestion. "She fooled you all. The boy Kirito is trying to take Lady Rose from me. Find them, _now_."

"Yes...yes, My lord." Sinon's face was looking down at the planet, frozen of all her emotions. She tried to turn to give her Emperor a real confirmation, but in her silence, he spoke up anyway.

"Find the two of them, and hold out the assault. I will be there momentarily."

* * *

"Kirito?!" Asuna charged up the steep entrance of an underground waterway to try and follow the echo she heard from before, but the super charged emotional Sith Lord was hard to stop as she barely noticed the eloquent scenery around her.

"Kirito! Are you in here!? We need to...!" Her eyes froze on the open space for only a brief moment, as Kirito stole her focus by jumping on her from behind. They rolled together along the rocky slope above the cave lake, and stopped just a foot or so from tumbling into the waters below.

"AGH!" Asuna was trapped under Kirito as she tried to wiggle her way free. "Get off me, now! I need to talk to you!"

"Asuna..." Kirito made no effort to hold her down, and let the weight of his body rest over her as his legs straddled her waist. "Asuna..."

"ERGH!" Her eyes were tensed shut, and a swell of flustered anger was building as she tried to fight her way to freedom. "FOR THE LAST TIME, GET OFF OF ME!"

"ASUNA!"

Her eyes opened with an alert shock as Kirito shouted down into her face. Tears falling from his eyes hit her on the cheek. She tried to study his expression, but felt her eyes lose control as they passed beyond his forehead, and into the starry oblivion above.

Her mouth was even more open than Kirito's was before. She tried to collect all the brilliant colors lighting up about their embrace, but had no way of measuring all the beauty with the mere thought of her twisted up mind. Her lips stuttered, and her breathing picked up as she tried to figure out all the different emotions stirring inside her.

"Asuna, please...look at me."

Kirito pleaded with her, and Asuna finally obliged as they shared the cave with one another for only a brief moment. His eyes were forming tears again, and as the confusing imagery from the star gazing vision returned to her frazzled mind, small bits of water formed under her eyes as well.

"I've been all over this game...all over this galaxy. I've fought for the Republic and the Empire...the Jedi and the Sith...light and the dark...I've seen friends killing other friends, enemies made from my former allies. I've been lost ever since Peter Mathis sent me off on my own..."

Asuna's eyes were still wide opened as they tried studying every emotion that came pouring from Kirito's words. She never said anything in return, and let the poor boy speak as his heart fell to the open floor.

"I've struggled trying to control this game and the Force...but...the moment I found you...even though the Dark Side took me into places I never want to go again...I kept my trust in being by your side. I missed you, Asuna...I just wanted to see you again."

"Kiri...to." Asuna's lips trembled, as this once-named pawn of the Emperor, this once mindless apprentice to her master plan, emptied his thoughts and feelings out for her to hear.

They said Kazuto Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki shared a relationship with one another in the real world, and even shared a marriage in others still. However, for the first time on her voyage with the greyed-out sword master, she finally thought she understood why this Kirito was so important to her, even if her thoughts were still locked away from her grasp outside this virtual world.

The two students of the Force slowly became students of one another. Kirito's head lowered to meet Asuna's as her own slowly rose off the ground. Their faces were dangling so very close together, and while the battle between good and evil raged on the surface above, these two players were creating a new adventure of their own down below.

Tonight, among the wrath and ruin made above, Kirito and Asuna would travel together, not beneath the earth in a cave, but surrounded by an imaginary night's sky made by breathtaking crystals of all different colors. They were quickly enveloped by twinkling lights simulating the brilliance and mystery of space.

That night, holding each other in their arms, Kirito and Asuna would surely travel across the stars.

* * *

 **1\. Lisbeth is with the good guys? Has she broken herself from the Emperor's grip...?**

 **2\. That flashback scene of Asuna and Kirito with Yui is actually the last scene of the SAO movie Ordinal Scale. I took the dubbed dialogue from it and everything!**

 **3\. Emperor Lusac is on the move!**

 **4\. Kirito discovers the Ilum caves.**

 **5. _Ahhh_ this scene was inspired by one of the magnificent prequel scores titled _Across the Stars_. A beautiful piece composed by the ever brilliant John Williams. Oh how he makes me proud to be an American!**

 **Very romantic chapter. 31 next! Until then!**


	32. 31: The Grand Design

**Author's Note: Let's see where Kirito and Asuna left off. Enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-One - The Grand Design

* * *

Asuna's head was resting over the lap of Kirito as they relaxed alone inside the frigid wintry cave below the surface of Ilum. They were both down to their underwear now, and she was warmly curled up underneath her burgundy winter cloak.

Kirito leaned back shirtless against a rocky wall with his own coat over his lap, and Asuna's head sat just on top of it as he played with her hair using one of his free hands. The other was lying over a rock to his side, and both remained silent as they took in the quiet atmosphere of the cave before their eyes.

"I saw a vision. Just before I ran into you." Asuna trembled with her words, but they formed to be more fluid as they came out. "It was romantic...actually it felt similar to how I feel now."

Kirito nodded his head. "I suppose that makes sense down here. They say this is a pretty romantic place, after all."

Asuna had more to say. "My vision wasn't over this lake, thought. It was on a mountain. The two of us were alone star gazing somewhere in a field, with woods down below. It was night time, with stars just like these crystals. Some of them were shooting stars, and you and I were..."

"Our date. On Mount Doudaria." Kirito stopped her, and halted his right hand as it stopped curling up her locks. "You saw the real world."

"I-I guess." Asuna did not want to leave him upset, so she tried her best to remember the scenery. "We were talking about a place called 'Aincrad', and what we were going to do once we got out."

"Yea..." Kirito let his head rest behind him. "We did that a lot at our house back on Floor 22."

"We had a house together?" Asuna never moved her head, but a bit of red took over her face as she pulled up on her cloak to cover her bare body more.

"Yea we did." Kirito was happy to confirm a memory that Asuna was able to remember. "When did you see this?"

"Right before I woke up in the cave. I went off to find you as quickly as I could. I-I wanted to know more about that night. There was also a..."

"What?" Kirito was trying to remember their date on the mountain top as well. "What else?"

Asuna froze up, and laid back down. "Eh, never mind...my memory was all blurry. I-I'd hate to mention something that didn't actually happen."

"O-Oh." He awkwardly replied. "That makes sense..."

Kirito remembered that he had something to share with her, too, but was worried that now would not be the best time to share his concern. He was worried that Asuna would blame the Republic's invasion of Ilum on him, so he needed to wait for the right moment to let her hear what he had to say.

"Kirito..." Unlike the happy, peaceful Asuna she saw in her memory, the Sith Lord lying across Kirito's lap was trembling. She held fear in her eyes, and tightly gripped the hand of her friend that was playing with her hair. "I...I need saved...from the Dark Side of the Force."

Asuna started to sob while Kirito slowly sat up, and did his best to comfort her in her confusion. She tried to corral her emotions, but barely found enough strength to get her words out on their own.

"I... I'm being brain-washed by a psychopath for god's sake! Why in the hell would I let myself do that...you say...you say I'm some powerful commander in another world, or even just a regular teen girl back home in the real world...but...I'm just so lost and afraid in _this_ world. My strength is all just an act...my greatest power is the fear that I've held onto the moment I set foot in this galaxy."

"Fear leads to anger...anger leads to hate...hate, leads to..." Kirito tried to remember the line, but found that now was not the time to complete it. He took a firm hold of Asuna's hand, and looked her in her big brown eyes.

"You have nothing to fear, now. We're almost out of the game. We need to find Amanda and Lucas, and get them in the same room. Maybe if we can get them to talk, they can do something against their father."

"Yea...yea, you're right." She wiped away her tears, and sat up as she wrapped the coat around her bosom.

Kirito continued. "They both hate their father more than anyone else. He trapped them in this game with us. They need to work together to end the war. The fighting just needs to stop."

"KIRITO! HEY!? WHERE ARE YA!?"

"KLEIN!?" Kirito nearly jumped up from his spot the moment he heard the loud pitched voice of his close friend from SAO. Asuna leaned up quickly, and wrapped herself further up in the cloth.

"ASUNA! HEY, WHERE ARE YA, GIRL!?"

"Oh no, Lis!?" Why would a special agent Imperial Bounty Hunter be walking around with an exclusively hired Republic Smuggler? Both Kirito and Asuna rushed to get their cloaks and clothes back on, and just as the couple secured their sabers to their now latched belts, the grey swordsman yelled over the cliff.

"Hey buddy! We're up here!"

They both saw the hand of Klein reach up to grab a rock as he pulled himself to the lake side. Lisbeth followed, but let Klein introduce himself to his long-lost friend. "You, long time no see, Kiri-dude! We've been looking all over for ya!"

"Huh, you still call me that even in this galaxy." Kirito delivered a kind smile as Klein wrapped his arm around his friend. "U-m, so how did the two of you..."

"Long story, I don't wanna tell it." Lisbeth gave Kirito that much of her attention as she wrapped her arms around her long-lost commander. "I thought you died or something. Please answer my PMs when I send them, 'kay?"

"R-Right, sorry!" Asuna felt like the insubordinate one to her inferior as she tried to collect her thoughts. "I would have replied sooner, but I've been rather occupied as of late..."

"Hehe." Klein caught the gist and nudged Kirito in the side. "I'll say, did you happen to lead the boy wonder here down the path of the Dark Side?"

"Gross." Lisbeth yelled out at Klein's joke, and grabbed Asuna by the hand as she went back down the ledge. "Come on, we have a lot to catch you guys up on. There's a blood bath going on up there that's not stopping any time soon."

* * *

"So, the two of you were forced to join forces, and tricked the rest of the army into looking for us?" Kirito felt very entertained as Klein told them all the story of their mission aboard the warm safety of the smuggler ship _Pina_.

"You bet, my man!" Klein felt his arrogance ooze out as he tried to sound cool for the intimidating Sith Lord who was now aboard his companion's ship. "We wanted ta get our hands on you before the leaders did before things went all haywire."

"Yea, but look at all the good that did us." Lisbeth was begrudgingly gazing out her window as they looked at all the chaos unfold above Ilum.

"I'll say...I didn't think the Republic would follow us...and I never thought the Sith Army would be this large, even after Alderaan." Silica felt a rise of goosebumps take her skin as she cautiously observed Asuna sitting off to the side. She tried to keep the ship steady, but loud explosions and slight tension building in their cockpit made that skill very hard to achieve.

Kirito followed Silica's eyes and then noticed Asuna had been extremely silent since their rescue operation had made it to the _Pina_. He was starting to grow more worried with her interpretation of the situation, and tried to level things out.

"So let me get things straight, you all came here on your own, without the Republic knowing the exact location you'd be going? And...I had no way of telling you where I'd be, right?"

"Uh, yea?" Klein looked at Lisbeth and shrugged. "How the hell would you contact us?"

"You have no faction, Dummy." Lisbeth tried to measure Kirito's level of intelligence. "You can't PM people, or be tracked by the friends' lists."

"Good good..." He leaned back and kept his eyes on Asuna. "Just wanted to make that very clear."

Asuna Yuuki kept all her thoughts to herself, and felt the shuttle come to a slow roll over a landing pad as dust flew over all the cockpit windows. Silica took a very deep breath before turning around to address her crew.

"Okay, this might be a little awkward." Silica looked at Kirito with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry, but I had strict orders to land here the moment we entered the battle radar."

The crew slowly emerged from the hull of the _Pina_ , and oddly enough Kirito was the first person to voluntarily greet the Republic entourage as command shuttles joined them on the landing pad over the valley of Ilum.

Chrysheight gave the boy Kirito a round of applause that infectiously took the rest of the Republic guard by storm. All the men and women of the ground cheered and saluted Kirito, not knowing of all the horrors and atrocities that he committed after leaving Coruscant on his mission.

"Kazuto Kirigaya...the Chosen One returns."

"Kikuoka." Kirito was reluctant to see the minister's face again. "I'm not sure if I'm glad to see you again."

"Kid, it's good ta see ya." Agil gave Kirito a bow, and nodded as the others joined the group from the _Pina_. "We thought we lost you to the Dark Side."

"Thanks, Agil. I'm fine." Kirito felt sad that his good friend from Aincrad had to say those specific words. "And well, my hands haven't totally been clean on my journey."

"That's okay." Chrysheight nodded his head. "You're still alive, and out of the hands of Peter Mathis. I say that's Mission Accomplished."

"Yea." Kirito's vision narrowed. "Out of the grip of one Mathis, and into the hands of another."

Jedi Master Amun-din finally joined them from the back of the crowd, and gave Kirito a look filled with stern contemplation. "My father's Hero. I see you've traded your grey trappings for black ones."

"You have to admit, the outfit does suit him better."

Everyone on the pad gasped, and while Klein, Silica, and even Lisbeth had followed Kirito out to the group, Asuna Yuki stayed on board until the noble Jedi Master showed her face.

Agil's smile vanished, but Chrysheight's lit up with even more excitement. "Asuna Yuuki. I see you've finally stepped into the light."

"I've done no such thing." She ignored the rude man's comments, and slowly walked forward to step between her apprentice and his former leader. Agil kept a hand on his lightsaber, and now everyone with the exception of Kirito, Asuna, Amun-din, and the quirky Chrysheight had their hand located to some form of weapon or firearm.

"Lady Rose." Amun-din showed her usual soft smile of the Jedi Order. "My brother's servant has finally shown her face."

"At least your brother's apprentice is still alive. I hope you were able to send your regards to Jedi Master Leafa after I took her life on Alderaan."

Kirito was blown away as Asuna admitted that fact. He remembered Suguha and Amanda had some former confrontation, but had no idea that she was once the Jedi padawan of the leader of the Republic.

Amun-din never moved a muscle. "My padawan was a capable fighter. But she had no business being in _that_ fight. She should have known her place, and stayed put on Tython like I asked."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kirito finally snapped, and joined the others as he grabbed his lightsaber hilts. The blades never powered on, but his eyes held the same sort of fire that his laser swords usually put off as he stared down the leader of the Jedi Order.

"Ya know, I've spent a pretty good amount of time on both factions, and I'm starting to lose sight on which one houses the good guys. The Jedi were always the arrogant ones in the movies, after all."

"How boldly correct, Master Kirigaya. How boldly correct you are."

The platform this confrontation took place on was standing at the top of a frigid peak high above Ilum, which made room for a royal Imperial shuttle to zoom slowly up from the horizon and into the view of the broken congregation. Standing on an open entrance ramp looking down on the other players like a lion to sheep, was the most powerful player offered by the Sith Empire ranks.

"Master Lusac." Asuna felt her blood quake with fear, and just then Amun-din's expression matched her Sith enemy's as her own brother join the conversation

"Little brother...you of all people..."

"You're Emperor Lusac." Kirito spat out with anger as he noticed Asuna's frail reaction to the reveal of her Sith Lord liege. His stance was turned to the Emperor, and his eyes were now turning a shade of yellow similar to Asuna's once before. "You finally decided to join the rest of your galaxy."

"My galaxy indeed." Lusac stood tall above the others, and had no weapon attached to his belt while he lorded over the rest of them from the sir. "My apprentice, my sweet sister, my father's prized possession, and the rest of the Republic high-command, all on one platform...all my eggs have suddenly fallen into the same basket."

"There's no damned way you'd be able to do something about it!" Klein pulled out his blaster pistol, and shot off a laser as Lisbeth ran over and grabbed his arm to pull it down.

"STOP IT, YOU IDIOT!" She was not doing so to protect her Emperor, but instead to protect her former friend. "Don't you know what you're...!"

Lusac redirected the shot with his hand, and went to hit Klein in the chest. Instead he hit Lisbeth's arm, but paid no mind as he continued to address the more important people to his grand scheme.

"I don't have time to discuss my intentions with you, sweet sister. I'm merely here to get back what I lost not too long ago." He ignored Amanda's trembling expression, and looked down at Kirito.

"If you would be so kind as to return your wife to my side, boy. I'll be taking my apprentice back now."

"Like hell I'd ever do that." Kirito stepped forward, but Asuna grabbed him by the arm, and as he turned to look at her approach, his eyes matched Amanda's level of fright when he saw the smoke and clouds forming under her vision.

Asuna was looking right at Lusac now. "I'm not your puppet, anymore. I will not fight this war for you as long as you use that mind trick on me and my allies. I'm through fighting for the Sith Empire."

Lusac let a dissatisfied breath flow from his mouth. "How idealistic...everything in this rotten game is my puppet! THIS IS _MY_ GAME!"

He raised a single hand, and took out almost every person standing on the platform, bringing them all to their knees, and even taking the lives of others as they fell to their deaths from the violent swell of Sith lightning pulsing from his single shock wave.

Even Kirito and Asuna fell down to catch themselves. The only person left standing on the grid was Master Amun-din. She stood with her same hand straight out in front of her chest, and carried on addressing her brother.

"This broken apprentice of yours has seen the light. Whether she accepts the path of a Jedi is beyond me, but she will no longer be fighting for you."

"Hah." Lusac was almost entertained by that thought. "The day she stops fighting for me is the day she dies. That'll be the only way to break my hold on her, and the others in my faction."

Lisbeth raised her head up at that announcement, and felt her own heart ache like Asuna's as her Emperor stood largely over the rest of the Republic.

"I'm through here. I think it's time for you to share the news with father's former prize. Tell Kirito what you've been doing this whole time." Lusac looked at his sister's broken face, and tried to hold in his laugh to hear the reaction of all others down below.

"What does he mean?" Kirito was waiting for some kind of bad news to be spilled over the floor, and turned to stare daggers right at Amun-din. "Amanda...what does he mean?"

The Lady of Light wanted to keep all of her next words to herself, but reluctantly revealed them anyway. "When you left to bring Asuna over to the Light Side, I used a unique device to target your player ID. I've been tracking your every move since leaving Coruscant."

"You did what!?" Kirito turned his anger away from the Sith Emperor, and now felt his wrath swelling for the Jedi Master. "You betrayed my trust!? How the hell did you think to get me to fight for your side if you felt the need to track me like some sort of prisoner!?"

"I needed to see what you would do!" She pleaded out, now locating the single-bladed lightsaber handle hanging from her side. " You promised us at the meeting. I wanted to see what you would do to try and bring Lady Rose to our side."

"And there it is." Lusac cracked a smile as that news flew through the air, and kept his eyes on Kirito and Asuna the moment the black-haired boy turned with alert eyes.

"No." Kirito tried keeping his emotions back. "No, I...Asuna...I never..."

Once Kirito finally turned to see Asuna, he waited for her to say something back. Anything would have made him feel better. He did not, however, wish to see what was about to come.

She was silent. Asuna had all the power of a mighty Sith Lord, but the strength she collected over the course of this campaign had settled into nothing the moment that news hit her ears. She barely noticed Kirito rush in front of her to plead for his case, but dark energy had started tuning him inside-out as faint words left her lips.

"You tried to turn me to your side...but _I_ was supposed to be the one trying to turn _you_...I-I was being played by you and Lusac at the same time...?"

"No, Asuna! ASUNA!" Kirito grabbed her arms to keep her on her feet. "I got captured. I lost my own mind to you. I let the Dark Side get the better of me and cloud my training with the Force! I had no way of persuading you! I even killed Thinker to save you!"

"And in the cave?" Lusac did not need a bit of tracking technology to see a vision of the two lovers down in the crystal caverns below Ilum. He was after all, the all-knowing Dark Lord of the Sith. "When she asked to be saved from the Empire? Are you telling me the thought of 'saving' her from me never crossed your mind?"

"Asuna." Kirito felt a tear fall from his eyes as Lusac was getting inside her head. "Please..."

"I..." Asuna fell back from Kirito's hands, and stumbled off to her own section of the platform. Her hands hung down from her body, and her eyes were now pale white orbs trying to grasp onto any form of the truth. Her fear was growing, and due to her extensive training with the Dark Side of the Force, and her manipulation at the hands of the ruthless Darth Lusac, Asuna Yuuki, the Dark Lord Rosario, finally felt her fear turn into anger.

 _"AGHHHHHHHHHH!"_

A violent storm of black energy and blue flairs of electrical power came up from Asun's person. Those who were barely clutching the ground kept their heads low, and even powerful beings like Agil and Chrysheight were trying to spare their eyes from the certain death before them. Amun-din raised her hands to block the attack with a Force shield, but this direct attack was far greater than Lusac's first assault, and even she was starting to lose her grip.

Kirito powered on his sabers, and held them up in a cross to block the attack from damaging him. He tried to get a hold of his fallen Sith friend, but the Dark Side was ever encompassing her heart with more and more rage filling her mind.

"ASUNA!" Kirito slowly stepped forward as whirls of energy shot below his feet. "THINK BACK TO THE CAVE! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF THIS GAME TOGETHER!"

"AGHH!" She cried out more and more as her voice was amplified by the Dark Side. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

The energy stopped coming, and soon the fiery-skinned Asuna shot forward, and attacked Kirito where he stood. The poor boy used his red sabers to deflect her attacks, and sent them back at her as a second round of slashes came from the Dark Lady Rose.

Asuna beat Kirito mercilessly, and tried to disarm him from his twin blades, but Kirito's training was just good enough, and the two beings seemed to be evenly match. Amun-din finally intervened, and powered on a brilliant mint-colored green saber to try and take the life of Asuna Yuuki on her own, but just then Kirito shouted back at her.

"NO!" He swung out to keep Amun-din away, which left him open as Asuna slashed him on the hip, and nearly cut into his virtual bones as he fell to his side in a fit of pain.

Kirito still held his left hand high, but Asuna stood over him as she slung her saber down like a hammer over and over again. Kirito would have certainly met his end there, if he did not swallow his courage, and step in to save himself from her cruelly powerful hands.

"GYAH!" Kirito had no choice but to shove her saber out of the way with his left sword. He used his Force powers to call back his right weapon, then took the right arm from his beloved wife in a single chop, and sent her flying backwards as she screamed out in pain.

"ASUNA!" Kirito instantly stood as he also managed to scrape her chest and neck with the upswing from his attack, as a violent yell of agony took the air. Soon after, the wound led her into a silent state of shock. He ran to save her from tumbling off the edge, but just then the world froze around them, and Kirito stopped running forward like a statue stopped in time.

"Kirito." Emperor Lusac pulled the now defeated Asuna aboard his ship with the might of the Force, and casually let his shuttle fly over the scene while the rest of the platform stood idly by as frozen husks, including his powerful sister.

"Darth Rosario will be waiting for you... I look forward to our next meeting."

"Grr... _Lucas!_ " Kirito's lips could barely move, but the extensive Force power inside his body kept him slightly in control of the spell, unlike the others. "You planned this all along!"

"I actually did, yes." Emperor Lusac gave Kirito one final regard as he took his mighty Sith apprentice with him in his ascent to the _Mother's Rosario_. "Father will be proud. All a part of my Grand Design."

* * *

 **The Sith Emperor has finally revealed himself to Kirito. Asuna felt betrayed, and now Kirito must find away to win her back all over again, while also dealing with the Mathis siblings. Lusac seems pretty straight forward, but this Amanda appears to have a different personality than her brother...**

 **Until next time!**


	33. 32: Reckless with the Force

**Author's Note: This one is longer than most of the other chapters. Let's see what happened to our hero after the events on Ilum!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Two - Reckless with the Force

* * *

"He's been meditating in there ever since we got back to Coruscant." Klein leaned against the wall as he stood next to a door in the Galactic Senate chambers on the Republic world of Coruscant.

Master Agil stood by as well, with a finger underneath his chin. "I didn't take him for the kind that mediated this often. From what I knew of him, he seemed to be a high-energy type."

"They said he was like this the whole ride home too." Silica sighed as she tried to join in. "Remember? He didn't even say anything when Amun-din's guards grabbed him."

"Guess it makes sense, after what he went through." Klein tried laughing at the non-humorous situation. "Ya spend half the game hunting down your fiancé, who also doesn't remember you like all your other friends from the real world. Then when you finally reason with her, both faction leaders explain that you've basically just been a tool to them and their father all along...and then they put you behind bars!"

"Right." Agil shook his head. "The Mathis dad makes sense, and we already knew Lusac was just using the Empire's Wrath as a pawn, but for Amun-din to track Kirito without his knowledge..." The Jedi Master was starting to consider realigning his allegiances.

The doors to the meditation chamber swiftly opened, leaving everyone to stand a full attention, until Chrysheight revealed himself from inside the room. The door shut behind him, and his long expression spoke more words than they needed.

"Well, I'd say they'll be ready for him soon...we'll be lucky if the Sith don't attack us during the hearing."

"So what now?" Silica kindly asked. "Are we ready to go back on the offensive? Or was Ilum our only planned attack? And what about Kirito?"

"Amun-din said our next order of business is taking out the Sith capital at Dromund Kaas. She's called to have the captive bounty hunter stand trial as we speak."

"Eh, better go join 'em quick." Klein led the group of players down the hallway as they rounded the corner for the conference hall. "Knowing Lisbeth's tongue, she'll probably start a second war here in the heart of the capital."

Agil and Silica cracked half smiles, but Chrysheight lingered in the back of the group, and turned to look at Kirito's locked door again. He was alone in the hallway, and left himself with one final word as he spoke quietly, but out loud.

"Don't let her trap you here, Kazuto...you can't stay trapped in this world forever." said the voice of Kikuoka Seijirou. "Eventually I'll need you for the ministry's next mission."

* * *

Klein and the others now joined the large Senate hearing room on the west sector of the building. Many Republic-playing characters were sitting in on the meeting, and a council of five Jedi had decided to preside over the trial. Master Agil took his seat on the judge's stand, and joined Jedi Matser Amun-din and three other players. Two were loyal employees staffed underneath Amanda at Immortal Gaming, while the other was another Jedi General who joined the game from the Holocron Beta-test like Agil.

The walls were polished with a bronzed finish, and the floors were white marble that reflected the high lights of the vaulted ceiling from above. Amun-din's firm voice echoed throughout the chamber as the audience grew quiet once again.

"Right, now that Master Agil has rejoined us, please, carry on."

"Ugh, for the last time, I dunno anything about the Emperor's grand plan! I was tasked with retrieving Kirito for Asuna. That's it." Lisbeth's slightly shrill voice was growing more and more agitated with every questioned the Jedi Master asked.

Amun-din was still not impressed with her prisoner. "You say that, but were you not the same bounty hunter tasked with retrieving my planetary teleportation technology not too long ago?"

"You mean that mission that ended with the shootout in the casino? Technically, yea, that was me." She quickly defended herself. "But my friend, Sinon, was the acting Lieutenant on that mission. I don't even know what we needed the plans for. The extra ships from Asuna's fleet were breaking every line the Republic had at the time. That's how we managed to take Alderaan, not some lousy teleport trick."

"Hmm..." Amund-din quickly wrote something down in front of her, and flipped a page in her notebook. "Would either Captains Klein and Silica please step on the witness stand."

Not phrasing that as a question, Silica looked around from her seat in the audience, but felt Klein pat her on the shoulder as he stood and took the task upon himself. He marched slowly toward the stand, and propped his feet up on his desk as he leaned back in the provided chair.

"Captain Klein, did you not take this Bounty Hunter into custody for capturing you and Silica?"

"Uhh..." Klein thought it would be easy to defend his new friend, Lisbeth, but the Jedi Master was making it too easy. "Yea I guess we took her hostage, then used her to find Kirito."

"I see." Amund-in carried on quickly. "And how did the Bounty Hunter describe her mission from Coruscant to you when you reunited?"

"Well, pretty much how she just explained it." Klein shrugged. "Oh, she did blow the roof of the building sky high! She knows how to rig up some explosives pretty well! Not to mention a ship's engine!"

"Hmm..." Amun-din chewed on that answer for a moment. "So you're a very technologically savvy player?"

"Duh!" Lisbeth showed no fear to the Jedi Master still as she pointed to her health bar. "I'm a Power Tech!"

"That's quite a mild way to put it." Amun-din gave her a soft smile. "From the sounds of things, you must have been a very valuable asset to Lady Asuna's Team."

"Don't say her name. Don't you ever say her name!"

The hall gasped all at once, and heads turned as Jedi Master Chrysheight brought the greyed-out Kirito into the council chambers. The Jedi-turned-Sith marched down the walkway and sat down next to Lisbeth as he took his place on the defense's side.

"I'm sorry, Kirito. I'm not ready for your trial yet." Amun-din waved her hand at the door. "Guards, return him to the cell."

"Eh, he insisted pretty hard on coming in now." Chrysheight smirked as he turned toward the Jedi Master. "It's the first time he's spoken since Emperor Lusac's threat back on Ilum."

"Very well..." Amun-din looked quite stressed to see Kirito joining the group, and even Lisbeth sat up in her chair and held her arms as the intimidating Kirito took his place beside her.

"The Trial of Kirito may begin, and conclude alongside the Sith player Lisbeth's."

"You never told me why I'm on Trial, Jedi Master." Kirito's eyes were fiery with passion, but his anger was holding well back within his voice. "Is this about me working with Asuna like you ordered me to?"

"Hardly." Amun-din grew slightly uncomfortable as she took a bag from one of the fellow council members. "You were charged with the assassination of two Republic Commando's during your mission to the Sith World Tatooine. Friends of yours who survived the game Sword Art Online were taken down by your weapons."

She then powered on a crisp red lightsaber and showed it to the audience. "You also carried two of these with you during the attack on Ilum. Killing Republic players with Sith weapons on a mission ordered by the Republic is quite the crime in my faction."

"I tried playing as a Jedi, remember?" He retorted. "Only one player from the Jedi Order really believed in me, and she was killed on Alderaan fighting your war."

"I did not order Leafa to fight on Alderaan. What happened with her life was out of my hands, and had she just stayed on Tython like I..."

"THEY'RE NOT YOUR DOGS TO COMMAND!" Kirito stood from his seat and shouted loudly, the Force echoing on his booming voice. "Your father put _My_ friends in his game, and all you and your brother have done is use them to win a war."

Amun-din looked heart-broken to hear that. "I've done no such thing with my faction-mates. They had free will. I never forced them to do anything. As I just reminded you, Leafa was the one responsible for losing her own life."

The stern Jedi Master picked up her gavel and slammed it on the table. "The defendant is too emotional to carry out a sentence. Send him back to his cell until he's calmed down."

"They only place I'm going to is an arena. I want to settle this with you one-on-one."

The audience grew loud at that remark, and even Agil stood to voice his opinion. "Master Amun-din, allow me to take Kirito back to his cell. I'd say he cut his meditation short."

"Sorry, Agil." Kirito replied as he pointed to the female Grand Master. "This ends when I kill her in a duel."

Amun-din sighed, and closed her eyes as she leaned back into her chair. "What are your terms, exactly?"

"I win, then Lisbeth and I go free. You win, I'm dead, and out of your hair for good."

"I will not take your life!" Amanda's voice rang from her avatar as she stood tall to defy his request. "I don't even know what happens to the players after death, and I helped create this game!"

"That's fine." Kirito did not show his emotions. "I'll still be taking yours."

Amanda's eyes drew in sadness as she looked down at the player her father invited into the game. Letting him out of her sight was her greatest mistake. She let the legend of Kazuto Kirigaya sway her mind back when they first met, and let the boy run free within both factions for too long.

Maybe, it was time for her to see who would be the one to take down her father and brother.

"Very well." Jedi Master Amun-din crossed her arms, and delivered a bow before her audience, and soon-to-be opponent. "I accept your terms."

* * *

 _"AGH!"_

Asuna was standing underneath a single tree alone on an island, while the sun lowered over to the west and set for the evening. She stared straight ahead at a dark-haired figure yelling loudly with a sword in hand, and noticed this person had finished executing a special ability with their weapon.

Immediately after forming a scroll with her hands, the person in front of the Lightning Flash swayed back and forth, and immediately tumbled to the ground from exhaustion. Asuna could not stand by as the event unfolded before her.

 _"YUUKI!"_

She let the sword drop to the ground, and made sure to pick up the fallen girl to try and keep her conscious. As soft field of flowers sat just below them underneath the tree, and made the scene quite comfortable despite the looming emotion.

The girl named Yuuki never made a loud breath, and slowly open her eyes to smile up at Asuna. _"That's weird, I feel weak all of a sudden...I'm not in any pain or anything, though..._ "

Asuna remained oddly calm as she tried to remember what happened next. _"It's okay, you're just a little tired is all. You'll feel better of you rest."_

Yuuki wanted to agree. _"Yea, maybe. Listen...Asuna, take this. It's my original sword skill."_

Her voice was frail as she looked up to her blue-haired friend, trying to look into her eyes one last time against the brightly setting sun.

Asuna picked her hand up, and held it close to herself. _"No, Yuuki...I couldn't..."_

 _"Oh, come on!"_ She sounded weak, but the inflection in her words was kept very light and somehow, energetic. _"I want you to have it! Open the window..."_

Asuna noticed the weak girl in her arms was no longer smiling, which meant she was being serious with her request. He nodded faintly, and swiped up to reveal a special command linking Yuuki's gift to her account.

The scroll was delivered, and once again, Yuuki smiled. _"I-I gave it a cool name...Mother's Rosario. I-It'll keep you safe when you need it..."_

Asuna had kept a smile on her face the entire time, but now the tears dropping from her eyes started to betray her as she looked down at her defeated best friend from ALfheim.

 _"T-Thank you, Yuuki."_ The proud Undine Warrior gave away her proudest smile yet. _"I promise I'll take good care of it...and someday, when I leave this world, I'll make sure to pass it on to someone before I go."_

Asuna held Yuuki's hand tighter than before, and closed her eyes as she spoke down to her sickly comrade.

 _"Your sword will live on 'til the end of time."_

 _"Thank you..."_

Asuna then felt a cold break forming in her chest. Her vision grew darker, and grey fog shrouded her eyes. She could no longer hear the voice of Yuuki, nor even her own stifled breathing. All she could feel was the fear of losing her best friend, Yuuki, one more time.

Fear, that quickly turned to anger.

 _"The Mother's Rosario...my ultimate sword skill...I want to know...who was that girl in my vision...Y-Yuuki?"_

Her blood was growing hotter with every passing thought, and even though her words were still trapped in her empty, black mind, Asuna heard herself growing louder and louder every second.

 _"I could feel her...in my arms...she was alive. I felt it...!"_

"It would seem in your own anger you repressed that forgotten memory, along with all your others of the outside world."

Asuna Yuuki heard a second voice piercing her mind. This voice was deep, yet youthful. It was masculine, a young man's.

"You have left that all behind. Your family...your parents who don't seem to understand you."

 _"Mom...Dad..."_ Asuna's head was stirring, so much that she almost felt the cold air of the Old Republic Online once again on her open skin.

"And your friend...your foolish friends who try and lead you down their own path."

 _"Everyone..."_ Asuna felt water forming under her eyes, but soon the water was replaced with fire under her chest. _"They all betrayed me...they let me turn to the Dark Side."_

Emperor Lusac's voice continued. "And your former lover...Kazuto Kirigaya. He betrayed and murdered your trust. He was taken in by the Jedi Order of all people."

 _"Kirito...a Jedi...no. NO!"_

"He will join us, or die...you said it, yourself." Lusac reaffirmed her with a sly expression waiting over her surgical table as he looked down at the unconscious Dark Lord of the Sith.

No words ever left Asuna's lips. All her thoughts stayed firmly inside her mind, swelling up like a cloud of hot fire _. Rage._

 _"He will die."_

Her eyes shot open, and her mind returned to the Galaxy far far away. Darth Rosario felt her breathing grow lighter, as all the air in her lungs passed out of her mouth and into a metal breathing apparatus covering her lower face. Despite her easy breathing, though, her chest felt heavier, almost as if a larger sheet of metal was placed over it for protection.

And then, she pulled her right hand up to her eyes. It was covered in a black glove, now, but moments later, Lady Rose removed the protective hand piece, and revealed a black robotic hand in place of her once natural one.

"Now." Emperor Lusac stood by his powerful apprentice as she slowly pulled the glove back over her cybernetic hand. "Darth Rosario...Rise."

* * *

"Master Kirito...I'm sorry."

A loud raucous filled the great training arena the Jedi Order had established inside the Galactic Senate offices ever since the great terror attack set out by the Sith. Grand Jedi Master Amun-din stood with sorry eyes as she waited on one side of the open floor, and looked on to her aggressor on the other side.

"You think saying 'sorry' will make things alright?" Kirito spoke with a low tone, then raised his voice as he made one step closer to the center of the field. "You're no better than your brother, Lucas. Which is why I'm ending this here and now."

The Jedi-turned-Sith turned on his two red lightsabers, and swung them to his side as the crowd continued to roar with anticipation.

Amun-din sighed, and removed her brown Jedi robes. Beneath her cloak, she wore a sophisticated tunic made of bright white material, with small accents trimmed in gold. Her pants were light brown, and firm leather boots kept her still to the ground as she reached down and grabbed her single-bladed lightsaber. The brilliant mint-green blade shot up, revealing its unique color signature to the rest of the audience. Jedi Master Amun-din rarely ever used her lightsaber or her Jedi training, but when she did, the enemy to her other side rarely survived.

"I say sorry...because everything that has happened is a result of my family's corruption."

"AGH!"

Kirito ignored her, and ran for his opponent at full speed. He brought two red lightsabers to the middle of the confrontation and slashed them back and forth to dismantle the enemy.

Amun-din settled into to her stance even more now, and blocked both attacks, while also keeping up her defenses for Kirito's imminent onslaught. Wave after wave of crimson red flurries came down on her mint green saber, but the Grand Master of the Jedi Order was wise, patient, and sturdy.

The grey swordsman kept up his brutal assault as he usually did versus his stronger opponents, but made no scratch to the enemy on the other side as his energy depleted more and more. He tried spinning around to power up a few slashes, but the iron wall of Amun-din's saber was still holding strong.

Finally, he slammed his weapons into hers, and stood as the two duelists held a momentary cross-block together.

"You have been trained well, Kirito. I sense both the light and the dark wavering in your hands." Amun-din hated admitting that one of her allies had turned to the Dark Side, but she was happy to see that Kirito's aggression was not all formed out of negative anger.

Kirito finally gave the Jedi a smile. "Your defenses are really impressive, Master Amun-din. They remind me of another Game Maker that I fought long ago!"

"Hmm...I wish to hear about that story after this battle is all said and done. Once I force you to step aside, I'll manage to release you and your friends from this game, and you can go on to return to those games you once loved...if you still feel safe playing them."

"Aren't you Peter Mathis's daughter!? Surely you don't want this game to come to an end!" Kirito cried out as a white orb of light formed between their three lightsabers.

Amun-din's eyes glimmered for a short second, yet her expression grew dim. "I did, at one time! I did before my father and brother ruined everything! I want no part in this company or universe anymore!"

She swung down, and sent Kirito flying back into the wall, momentarily separating them before the grey swordsman from Aincrad leapt from his spot again, and bright down two powerful blows from above to try and disrupt Amun-din's firm stance.

The blonde Jedi never wavered, and tossed his attack to the side with a swipe of her own saber. Kirito returned to his hacking and slashing from the side now, but Amun-din's speed was staying caught up quite well with his.

Kirito powered up a unique bit of energy into his right hand, and swung from his lower side to catch the Jedi Master off guard, but she caught on to the attack quickly, and not only bounced his right saber back the way it came, but she also managed to twirl her lightsaber back the other way, and hack Kirito's left red saber in two with a gallant swing.

The crowd roared, some upset and some enthused as the two fighters were growing more and more equal in their craft. Kirito discarded the broken left saber in his off hand, and raised his remaining blade over his head like he was back in the Kendo studio of the Kirigaya family.

Amun-din rarely strayed away from her stoic Jedi attitude, but finally felt a smirk pass over her lips after a long time of being trapped in her father's galaxy. "You have learned much, Kirito. It seems you had excellent Masters training you after all."

"You'll find I'm full of surprises!" Kirito slammed his red saber down on to Amun-din, and the Jedi Counselor knocked it away with a simple bash to the right. Kirito's blade stuck in the ground, and left him with a hasty option of slashing through part of the floor up toward Amun-din.

She blocked it again, and now made her own attack for Kirito's arm. The boy remembered Leafa telling him how Jedi mainly look to disarm their opponents. He knocked her attack away, and brought his sword down like a hammer, trying to dislodge the weapon from his opponent's hand. She dodged, and once again his blade entered the marble floor of the arena, and left him with another attempt to slash up from the ground and into her body.

This repeated for several moments before finally, Amun-din stepped back, and held her lightsaber to her side. Despite his technical short-comings, the Jedi Master was starting to admire the boy in grey. "Your aggression does not come from a bad place, Kirito. You can still be saved by the Light Side of the Force. Let me speak with you in a better setting than this, and maybe we can both decide a way to defeat my brother and father together."

"I'm not totally against everything you just said." Kirito smirked, and looked up after letting her finish. "But first, let's start with finding a new place to finish this conversation!"

He raised his leg, and slammed it hard into the ground, and right at the same time, the boy raised his free hand, and pushed a Force shockwave deep into the floor with it.

Amun-din looked puzzled when she noticed Kirito acting in such a way, but quickly widened her view as each of the previous holes that Kirito had created were strategically placed to loosen the ground surrounding the two of them in the arena.

The Force pressure from Kirito's double blast broke the small area of the arena off from the rest, and sent it crashing down below into an open room with a long table and several chairs. The crowd ignited with a gasp of confusion, and all lost sight of the two fighters as an alarm sounded from the main chamber above.

"Impressive." Amun-din nodded as she looked around at the now flashing red room. The light was flickering, but other than the scrambling crowd from above, the new fighting stage was much quieter than before. "You managed to relocate the entire battle. Most Impressive."

"I did...so spill it." Kirito lowered his blade, but did not shut the lightsaber off as he kept the sword down but ready. "Why did you betray me!?"

"I did no such thing." Her voice remained slightly calm, but it was still the most emotion Kirito had felt coming from Amun-din outside of her discussing her family matters. "We agreed that the original plan was to try and turn Asuna to our side."

"That was Kikuoka!" Kirito shouted back, raising his blade once again. "I wanted her on my side, not yours! I needed her away from the Mathis family to try and break her mind control issue, myself. You saw what happened when she learned about your involvement!"

"My involvement has kept all of your friends on the Light Side alive!" Amanda's voice shout back at Kirito as she swung her green saber to her side, and ignited the energy in her chest to yell at her aggressor once again.

"My father told us that we had to split Kazuto Kirigaya's party up in two. My brother hand-picked Asuna to join his side. He was so caught up in sealing her fate to the Dark Side that he gave me a majority hold on the rest of your friends! I was told your 'sister' and 'girlfriend' entered the Holocron holding lab with you, and after realizing Asuna was not related to you, I grabbed your cousin, Suguha, and managed to get more of your friends from the Sith."

"You both divided my friends up from me right after logging in?" Kirito knew he was separated from the others after powering on the Holocron Unit, but he had no idea how quickly the others were whisked away to the Light and Dark after his own Full-Dive.

Amanda continued preaching through the voice of her Jedi avatar. "I saved half of your close friends, and like I mentioned before, once I knew the game had taken their minds, I was sure to reprogram things to get their free will back in-tact."

"And then you forced them to fight for you either way?" Kirito ran forward, and slammed his lightsaber into her space, but before the red blade hit her chest, the green blade from her saber blocked its momentum. "Why the hell did Lucas want Asuna on his side so badly? And why did that make you pick Suguha!?"

"Because...he claimed Asuna first..." Amanda was struggling to hold her defenses after the crash down below, and finally shouted to get the boy away from her. "Lucas helped someone else try to take Asuna's mind once before!"

A wall of Force energy swelled from Amun-din's presence, and caused Kirito to flip back into the air, and right toward the back wall of the broken conference hall. He let the crack from the wall suppress his impact, but still felt the pain as he stood with a shake in his legs, and watched Amun-din hurl large pieces of rubble right for his face.

"I've let Father and Lucas dictate my whole life for me every step of the way, AND IT ALWAYS ENDS WITH ME HURTING OTHERS IN THE PROCESS! I NEVER CHOSE TO DEVELOP THESE WORLDS THAT SHATTER SOCIETY!"

"You...developed...worlds?" Kirito was continually slashing through the broken pieces of the ceiling flying from Amanda's hand, and managed to hold his conversation while defending his life. "You...you've worked with VR technology before, haven't you?"

Amanda finally stopped, and lowered her head while her stance remained strong. A small shadow appeared under her feet while the broken lights from the conference room ceiling flickered on and off. She let out a bit of emotion before telling him anymore.

"I helped develop the game Sword Art Online. I was one of the lead designers of the map for Aincrad, and the Sword Skill system when I worked for Argus...I knew Akihiko Kayaba personally."

Kirito almost dropped his weapon, and lowered his jaw to try and gasp as much air that he could. "And...your brother?"

Amanda looked up, and showed Kirito the tears falling from her saddened eyes. "My brother was an employee for RECT, and at a young age was hired by Shouzou Yuuki. Because he was the son of my father, he followed Sugou Nobuyuki into the FullDive division at RECT to help create ALfheim Online. All at age 18."

Kirito almost lost his footing, and stumbled backwards as if a small cloud of Force energy pushed him slightly off his feet. He had no way of truly grasping what she had just revealed, and decided to just let her finish her words.

"I wasn't aware of Kayaba's death game plans, obviously, but once the game locked everyone down, I thought me and the other developers were the ones at fault. We lived in fear of prosecution for an entire year before people realized Kayaba acted alone during all of it. And that was just the group that never managed to log in the first day! After that, I noticed a new title growing more popular in the VR market, and found out my brother was helping develop it at my father's recommendation. I wanted to help with the first development of the AmuSphere, to ensure the same thing would never happen again like the NerveGear, but my brother wouldn't let me apply to work for the company. He kept his work secretive, and eventually pushed me away..."

"What?" Kirito wanted to know more about the tears falling from her eyes. He turned off his saber, and stepped forward to hear her better. "What happened then?"

Amanda's weapon was still on, but she turned to face the wall, away from the boy in front of her. "The SAO survivors were released. A player named Kirito freed everyone stuck in Aincrad from the hands of Kayaba. I was so happy, I almost had faith in the promises of the virtual world again, but my brother didn't care though...he was too angry, and too driven by something in ALO...he just wanted to continue his research for Mr. Nobuyuki."

"Lucas." Kirito repeated to himself, and tried to put everything together. "I guess he got his attitude from Sugou?"

"I don't know." She sobbed slightly in her small backlash. "He's always been competitive, and regularly tried to one-up Nobuyuki, his supervisor. Eventually that man was arrested for what he had done with ALO, but my brother vowed to carry out his incomplete research. My father had just gotten Immortal gaming off the ground, and once Lucas showed his ambition, he started grooming him for a role to take over his next game. He found Lucas's work with brain research at RECT fascinating, and decided to lead another project from our family office in the US."

"And what about you." Kirito kept his distance safe, but wanted to show he was still listening. "What about your involvement with SAO?"

"I...I...I couldn't help but hate myself. A game created with such beauty was solely designed to trap people inside a death game! And I helped make it...my father never even cared. He just sat back and continued to fuel the very market that was destroying people's families and lives."

A swell of shaking energy started to fill the room, and Amun-din raised her open hand into a fist as her right hand and lightsaber shook with growing rage.

"I vowed to stop my family from ever taking part in another mistake of a game again...but here we are, the _Mathis Family Strikes Back!_ I...I'm...I'M STILL TRYING TO DO THE BEST I CAN TO STOP THEM!"

Kirito blocked a very powerful assault from his front flank as Amun-din rammed into him with a mighty barrage of attacks. Hit after hit, her green blade was turning into a blur as Kirito failed to keep track of her weapon. He could only defend himself by merely seeing the movement of her arms, and still kept himself at a safe distance while the broken girl continued breaking down in front of him.

"MY FATHER LET MY BROTHER PUT HIS EVIL INTO THIS GAME, AND THEN HE FORCED ME TO FIGHT WITH HIM IN ORDER TO SAVE THE COMPANY! I WILL NOT SEE THIS UNIVERSE RUIN THE LIVES OF ANY MORE PLAYERS! I NEED TO WIN MY FATHER'S COMPANY BEFORE ANYONE ELSE GETS HURT!"

"Why..." Kirito asked a quiet question through his grinding teeth as he tried to hold firm with his defenses. His single red blade was keeping the powerful Jedi Warrior away from his body, and as the Force continued to swell with his opponent, her angry energy grew as well.

"I will get you out of this game, Kirito! You need to trust me!"

"Why..." Kirito was not asking 'why' to that direct quote from Amun-din, but instead was trying to formulate a thought of his own.

"THEN WHY...WHY DID YOU TRY AND STOP ASUNA AND LEAFA FROM TRAINING ME!?"

Kirito hit upward with a great volley of force from his laser sword, and grabbed Amun-din by the wrists. He cut the hands from her stiffened arms, and forced her to drop her weapon on the cold metal ground.

Then, Kirito twirled his blade down below his arm, and stuck it into the exposed chest of Jedi Master Amun-din, hitting her in the heart, and releasing a gasp of air from her lungs has she crashed to her knees.

Kirito finished screaming, and tossed his lightsaber aside after turning it off. He swiftly turned to grab the falling Amun-din's limp body, but noticed her eyes were still alive with light.

"I didn't want to kill you..." Kirito replied with his own emotion trapped in his throat. "Why did you try and stop me from gathering my friends?"

Amanda Mathis's voice cracked as blood came to her lips, and a small cough let her speak to her new victor. "I...was trying to...protect them."

"What?" Kirito was taken back. "But you hated Leafa? And Asuna was the apprentice of your brother?"

"I didn't hate Leafa...I cared for her dearly...I respected the amount of grace and elegance that she brought from ALO into her role as a Jedi...I also never forgot that she was brought here with you by my Father's orders."

She raised her maimed arms up, and dropped them down in her weakened state. "I was trying to keep her on Tython, away from the fighting, to keep her from dying, and ending up one of their research pawns."

Kirito had no words. Leafa was ordered to stay on the planet Tython by Amun-din's command, but she had always thought the Jedi Master made the isolated role for her out of spite.

"Agil too...you knew he came in with me...you forced him to remain on Coruscant."

Amanda smiled softly. "It was one of the reasons why I managed to get along with Agil the most, he's never even left Coruscant after leveling his character to the maximum rank...he never tried to put himself in harm's way. There's just something about your group of friends...they really crave excitement and danger."

Amanda was growing weak, but as she tried to lay down more, Kirito kept her head propped up slightly to allow her to continue. "Silica and Klein were smugglers, so I didn't expect them to face any trouble out in the open...but that Klein...Argo was the same, though I only found out she was your friend after hearing it from the group. She mostly worked by herself in SAO...she also turned out to be working for my brother though. Yuilier, Thinker, they were off my radar, but I knew them as SAO survivors...Alicia was just lucky. I only found out they were all your old friends when...it was too late."

Kirito quivered as Amanda released all this information. "And what about Asuna and the others? Three of my friends were taken by Lucas, along with others like Sakuya and Eugene."

"I know. Sakuya and Eugene were tops players in ALO." Amanda pleaded. "My brother had played Gun Gale Online in his spare time while developing TORO...he knew Sinon from a BoB tournament, and I assume he picked Lisbeth because of her connection to Asuna...I strictly forbid all of your friends from engaging the Sith Command in any combat. Leafa met Sakuya on Tython during an early attack, but failed to engage once I arrived with reinforcements. She never fought any of your Sith friends directly after that, until her confrontation on Alderaan with Sakuya again...and then with Asuna...if she had just stayed at her post on Tython."

"It was just like me on Dagobah." Kirito sadly admitted. "You were trying to keep me away from the fighting too."

Amanda started to tear up once more. "I knew you and your friends were targeted by my father for a reason. I knew you were our only hope when you came into the game with that grey-out faction. I didn't want you to find Asuna because...I was worried what it might do to you."

Kirito glanced over at his fallen Sith lightsaber, and kept his eyes away from the dying girl. "You tried to bring balance to the Republic side of the game, and the Light Side of the Force. All while trying to keep my friends and I out of trouble."

"I still have no idea what happens to players who are killed using Holocron units. People say they are stationed in a dormant state, and after my brother's work with ALO...I...I don't trust my family anymore."

"Then you'll have to trust me. I'm going to end this game, Amanda. For you, and Asuna, and all the others. I'm going to find your brother, and then your father, and end this game once and for all."

"Kirito..." Amanda was taken back by his determination, and tried to release one final thought to her champion. "Don't be destroyed by the Dark Side like Asuna was...you can still become a Jedi. And please..."

Her eyes had finally shut, but one more breath of words left the lips of Jedi Master Amun-din in her dying state.

"Don't confront the Empire's Wrath."

Kirito let Amanda's body fall limp in his arms, and sat still as a single tear rolled down his check. He could hear the crowd above had finally cleared out, and also noticed several marching feet coming his way from door to his back. The boy's right hand found her fallen lightsaber, and placed it in his inventory.

His other hand was then placed on Amanda's forehead. Kirito felt her body disappear into the void of the game moments later. "It's okay, Amanda. You can be one with the Force, now."

* * *

 **So Amanda's been an oddly neutral character from the point of view of the audience. She's definitely better than her brother, or at least we're told that much, but she never showed us why that was until now. I wanted the Mathis family to have some connection to SAO and ALO to help explain why Peter Mathis was so hell-bent on getting Kirito to be his new heir. Kirito respected that from her, bu could not respect the way she chose to lead the players in the Republic. He meanwhile had no choice but to let Amanda rest and carry on with trying to win the game his own way.**

 **So what happens next? One Mathis down, two to go. And then that whole thing with Asuna...Until then!**


	34. 33: Prepare for Battle

**Author's Note: One Mathis, although she was quite passive, is down. Kirito is now tasked with defeating the brother, and soon the father! Can he do it? First he must rally the forces of the galaxy to his side!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Three - Prepare for Battle

* * *

"You are without a doubt the single most hated player in the Republic, and yet after killing the beloved faction leader, you're roaming free as a bird." Chrysheight smirked at the calm Kirito as they both waited alone inside a meditation chamber.

Kirito was still trying to reach the recently fallen Amanda Mathis's spirit through the Force System, similar to how he connected to Suguha Kirigaya. He needed severe concentration to contact the defeated Jedi Master, so having the Japanese ministry agent speaking through his thoughts did not seem to help. Much like it was always with the two of them.

"Kikuoka, sometimes I wonder who you're really working for." Kirito mumbled under his breath, but never made a care knowing Chrysheight still managed to hear his remark.

The blue Jedi Master chuckled, and continued leaning against the wall. "You'll find out soon enough...I can finally get back to my new project after I get you out of this mess of a game. Once I report my research from the Holocron units and the Force System to my agency, we can use them to help us..."

"What?" Kirito lowered his posture, and turned to give the avatar of Kikuoka his full attention. "What's your new project after this, anyway?"

His dark glasses still managed to make it into the galaxy far far away, but they were a shade bluer than his secretive black ones in the real world. Chrysheight shook his head very faintly. "I'll tell you when you're ready to hear it...now, about Amanda Mathis."

Kirito stood up, and dusted his grey trousers from the floor of the meditation chamber. "Amanda helped develop SAO, her brother worked on ALO, and Peter Mathis is known for funding most of the VR games that released after the launch of the NerveGear."

"I see." The Jedi sounded more intrigued. "I knew as much about Peter Mathis, but I had no idea the children had been so involved with Virtual Reality design outside their father's company."

Kirito sighed, and looked over to his friend. "He's having them fight each other in this world to see who is going to take his place. The mind control stuff all came from Lucas, though. I don't think Peter intended for any of it to affect his game, but he's probably not upset about what all it's caused. The Force System...the Holocron...they were all based on advanced medical technology meant to fully support a natural FullDive. The technology is so advanced, I just wonder if...why would Peter Mathis use that specific of medical technology to preserve the Force System? He's not a medical doctor or anything. "

"Yes...it's all quite strange." Chrysheight stood straight up too, and while the two players were off thinking about two totally different subjects, Kirito ended his thoughts, and carried on.

"I've gotten all the information I could out of Amanda Mathis. I'm going to find her brother, Lucas, and figure out the real truth."

Kikuoka Seijirou watched Kirito walk through the doors, but kept his thoughts to himself as he tried to evaluate both what Kirito had just said, and everything else that he had studied about the Old Republic Online so far.

 _"The Holocron's intricate Force System...this world may yet bring us one step closer to understanding the human soul after all."_

* * *

The entire Republic council had decided to reconvene in the Senate chamber. As per the bargain made by Amun-din and Kirito, the bounty hunter, Lisbeth, was released of all charges. Despite her new found freedom, she decided to linger in the audience with Silica and Klein as the new Grand Master took the lead of the Jedi Order.

"Amun-din is gone." Master Agil told the rest of the remaining Republic players. "But we still have the upper hand. We still had the assault plans she left for us to take out her brother and the Sith Empire."

"Not anymore!" Yelled out an angry loyalist. "Your IRL friend saw the end to that!"

"Kirito's a Sith Lord!" Said another frantic voice. "Why are we letting him live after murdering our leader!? She was the only player capable of defeating the Sith Emperor!"

"Kirito wants to see an end to this game just as Amun-din did. He has every reason to challenge her brother and lead us to victory."

"You're the new Jedi Grand Master." Said a third voice calmly to his side. "What's say you and Master Chrysheight lead us to battle instead? Leave the boy here as Amun-din suggested."

"I will happily do that." He kept his eyes on Klein and the others. "But I cannot do it alone. I need the full support of this group. And we need Kirito on our side to do this."

"They're right, Agil."

The group turned to find Kirito and Chrysheight walking through the back doors of the Senate Chambers, and let them join Agil and the high command as the boy in grey carried on.

"You can lead us to the main assault. I will you help out anyway that I possible can."

Agil smiled, and nodded at his old friend from Aincrad. "Do we have a plan?"

"Yes." Chrysheight smirked, and slowly walked forward as he stationed himself at the center of the room, adjacent to a large holo-pad sitting in the central table of the room. He powered on a virtual image of the galaxy, and pulled the hologram inward to locate the Imperial capital system of Dromund Kaas. "The Sith Emperor's grand garrison from Korriban has rejoined him in defending Dromund Kaas. We know this because the main ship orbiting the capital planet matches signatures held by the Korriban fleet's flagship, the Mother's Rosario. They've pulled in all their primary resources, and left the galaxy open for our forces to advance."

"Why would they do that?" Silica boldly asked. "They just got done beating us at Alderaan, Tatooine, and Ilum."

Chrysheight nodded, but kept his enthusiasm firm to his face. "It's quite obvious, actually...they're defending something."

He zoomed into the capital city, and located a small sector underneath the grand palace of the Empire. "Beneath the citadel is the new super weapon of the Sith Empire. A planet killer. They had recently captured a device from Tatooine designed by the Republic, and planned to use it in order to secure the galaxy and win the game. The problem is, the only lab big enough for them to fully study and re-arm it is right below the grand palace."

Kirito felt like it was finally time for him to speak up. "It's called a Shock Drum. Jedi Master Leafa kept it turned on after finding it during the main mission for the Jedi Knight story line on Tatooine. When Asuna and I invaded the caves there to execute Darth Trentyn, she was ordered by Lusac to have the device delivered to Dromund Kaas immediately."

"So?" Klein wanted them to get to the point. "What does that have to do with them pulling all their available forces in to the capital?"

Agil stepped up, and leaned his hands on a railing over-looking the main floor. "It seems that they're trying to defend the planet Dromund Kaas, because if anyone were to go in and activate the Shock Drum while its sitting on their planet..."

"It'll take out Dromund Kaas, and everyone on its surface."

Kirito explained that final line before letting the wondrous and hope-filled faces of the Republic light up. He let their soft cheers calm down before finishing his point. "It's a ticking time bomb. We need to land of the surface, and activate the device without them knowing."

Chrysheight took it from there. "Once the device has been activated, a great pulse will take the ground like a small earthquake, then build until the very core of the planet is ruptured. From there the world would quickly implode on itself. The digital code used by the Shock Drum's system is like an admin command. It will slowly wipe out the script language making up the planet from the ground up. It'll take a long time for any damage to happen to the surface, so we will need the power of the Republic fleet to build a blockade around the atmosphere of Dromund Kaas to trap the escaping Sith players down on the surface."

Agil crossed his arms, and reassured his once weary comrades. "Earlier this council was worried that no Jedi apart from Amun-din was strong enough to defeat Emperor Lusac. Now, if we can trap him on his own planet, then we can take him out without confrontation."

Kirito looked away while most of the audience screamed with delight. He did not seem to enjoy that part of the plan.

"What about the planet teleporting technology that the Empire stole from us!?" The men around Klein, Silica, and Lisbeth yelled out, making the once-criminal bounty hunter fall lower into her chair.

Chrysheight wavered them back into their seats as well. "Very correct. We will need to deactivate the teleporting technology found within the Citadel's main laboratory. We will also need a small crew to invade the tower, and activate the Shock Drum from within. This strike team will need to be made up of an elite group, because once the weapon is activated, there won't be much time left for escape."

Kirito turned to the first row on the near side of the amphitheater. "I'm leading the ground crew, and I need an excellent smuggler with a ship that can cloak itself behind enemy lines."

He was looking at Silica. She had no way of knowing how to react at first, and felt even more worried once the entire Republic started looking at her. Lisbeth sat up, and looked down at her old friend, while Klein smirked and gave the rest of the men a shrug.

"Eh, she is the best smuggler we have."

Agil agreed, but looked back to Klein. "And you're the best pilot we have. We need you to lead one of the main fighter forces up in space. Master Crysheight will take command as the admiral of the assault."

"And Lis..." Kirito stared right at his old friend twisted by the Dark Side of the Force. Her eyes were still opened by confusion, but her attention was solely placed on him.

"I need you to join my assault group on the ground, and activate the Shock Drum."

Lisbeth the Sith Power Tech was even more confused than Silica, now. She was just being roasted by the Republic high command moments ago, then this weird Jedi/Sith boy stormed into her trial, fought for her life, and now he's asking for her help? She was the bounty hunter that captured him and delivered him to Darth Rosario...in her mind, most of Kirito's current imbalance with the Force was because of her.

"I'll do it."

Lisbeth, Kirito, and all the other people in the room looked on as Silica shot up out of her seat, and stood facing the command with a bold expression. "I'll fly _Pina_ into Dromund Kaas, and help get you on the ground, Kirito."

The audience erupted with support. People were patting Silica on the shoulders from behind, Klein was high-fiving people to his right, and even now Lisbeth felt a small smile curving on her lips.

"Ah what the hell?" She finally leaned back, and regained that comfortable charisma all her friends loved her for back in the real world. "Maybe if we win, I'll get back my old memories of fighting with you guys IRL. Sign me up."

The room continued to roar with support, and as the soldiers of the Republic applauded the new volunteers for the assault squad on Dromund Kaas, Chrysheight turned to Kirito and smiled.

"Then it's settled. We give it everything we've got on this one battle. No holding back."

Kirito felt conflicted about certain parts of the plan, but he had no reason to relay any of that information over to his friends. "I guess so...May the Force be with us all."

* * *

Admiral Sinon was walking through the onyx hallways of a remote Sith temple hidden in the jungles of Dromund Kaas. This palace was used as the Emperor's exclusive retreat away from the capital citadel in Kaas City. She still noticed a fair amount of guards and higher up commanders walking the outer halls, but paid no mind to them as she kept marching to the temple's center chamber.

Two Sith death troopers flanked her on both sides as her personal escorts. She had taken full command over the Mother's Rosario after Darth Rosario had fallen in battle over the planet Ilum. Now, she was asked to return to Dromund Kaas for the next mission commanded by her Emperor.

A security droid slowly opened the golden doors that locked away the imperial throne room from the rest of the palace. The walls were still matte like buffed black rock, but the floors were solid and polished white. A deep red carpet led all the way across the chamber to a set of stairs, and this path was guarded on both sides by three elite imperial guards. Sith Warriors armored in black robes and hooded masks defended the room from all intruders, yet left no fear in the heart of the famous imperial sniper as she made her way closer to the middle.

Sitting in front of a large hanging crimson banner depicting the Sith seal, blue flames stood up on the royal plinth that housed the Sith throne. Just above her view, Sinon saw the great Emperor Lusac perched on his golden throne of the Empire, leaning forward out of the black leather cushion to ponder a thought.

She stood firmly after delivering a salute, then brought one knee down to rest on the floor. "What is thy bidding, Sir?"

Lusac smiled behind a balled-up fist resting in front of his face. His elbow sat on one knee, and finally he sat up, and acknowledged his guest. "A tremor in the Force...my sister, Master Amun-din, has been killed."

Sinon nodded. "Our informants have said they believe it was the grey player, Kirito. Also, we have not heard from Lisbeth ever since the attack on Ilum."

"She is of little concern to us now. You have new orders. Hold the _Mother's Rosario_ with my defense frigates above the planet's orbit. We will keep our line firm above the skies of Kaas City, and wait for any intrusions on our operations."

Sinon nodded again, and finally looked up, keeping her place on the ground. "What about the rest of the Wrath's master garrison from Korriban?"

Lusac sat back in his chair. "Leave that to me. I have a plan ready for any Republic assault that tries to stop us on our front."

"And what of the Republic fleet massing over Coruscant?" She pointed out a rather interesting power move by the opposition on the far side of the galaxy. "They haven't formed a fleet this large ever since the first defense of Alderaan."

Lusac howled with a laugh. "I expect them to come at us with all their might. With any luck...he will be leading them right to our door step. If the boy Kirito finds his way to our atmosphere, let him pass down to me."

"Yes, sir." Sinon stood up, and delivered one final salute before turning around. She needed to get back to commanding her new fleet, but Sinon was truly disturbed the moment Lusac said the name 'Kiriro'. In all honesty, she needed the conversation to end before things grew even more confusing.

"Oh, one more thing." Lusac snapped to the right, and commanded a pair of royal officers to come through the door. "Your reward for helping my apprentice track down Kirito. This was meant for the girl, Lisbeth, but I think it's new owner is far better suited."

Sinon wavered for a short minute, and let a lump take her throat as she had no idea what to expect from the package. Asuna had promised her a reward for all of her work, but she never honestly expected Emperor Lusac to be the one to fulfill it. Her hands reached out to touch the digital package handed over from the officers, and once she spilled out the contents, her eyes grew wider than the rims of her glasses.

"Mandalorian Armor." Lusac smiled, and raised a hand with his delivery. "The fans of the Star Wars universe call it _Beskar._ It's made of the greatest steel in the entire galaxy. So powerful, it will even stop a lightsaber's blade or a blaster bolt."

Known as beskar'gam in the Mandalorian language of Mando'a—a name which meant "iron skin" when translated into the common tongue—Mandalorian armor was central to the warrior people of the planet Mandalore, and their radically religious way of life.

Sinon picked up a dark green and silver helmet, lined in the center with a t-shaped visor. The chest plate, arm gauntlets, greaves, and sabaton boots were each holding some plate of beskar steel. Painted deep green and trimmed with chrome, this color symbolized Duty in the ways of the Mandalorians.

"Your work here is finished, my friend. Fulfill your loyalty to the Empire, and defend its skies from enemy invasion. You are now the Supreme Leader of my fleet. I will wait here, and remotely monitor the research on the Shock Drum in Kaas City."

"I-I am happy to accept this gift..." Sinon almost quivered as she tried to gather her thoughts. "But am I truly the highest commanding officer left? ...What happened to Asuna?"

Lusac stayed reclined in his lofty chair, and allowed the hood of his robes to fall forward on his face. His smile filled the room with a bout of laughter, and his eyes remained hidden from his sniper admiral.

"Darth Rosario has received a special appointment from me. I feel she will serve the Empire far better in this new position under my direct command."

* * *

The _Pina_ was drifting through hyperspace as blue rushes of stars flew all around its hull. Silica had finished the calculations to put the crew right above the atmosphere of Dromund Kaas. Once out of hyperspace, she would quickly activate the cloaking device and land on its surface.

Lisbeth acted as her co-pilot for the daring mission, and Kirito sat just behind them as they all three looked out the main windshield in anticipation.

"We'll arrive above Dromund Kaas in a little bit." Silica switched on some valves above, and checked her ship's speed as they slowed into their approach from space.

Lisbeth sighed, and spun around in her chair to analyze Kirito, who was now deep in thought. "So, any idea where this imperial lab is? I've been to Dromund Kaas so many times, but I've never felt the urge to go exploring there."

Kirito tried to narrow his vision, but provided her with an unexpected answer. "When we land, I'll have a secret weapon ready to help us into the lab. We'll find the entrance, and take out the teleportation machines first."

Lisbeth shrugged. "If you can get me into the labs, I'll be sure to locate the technology. It should look like some of the same panels I robbed back on Corscant on my first major mission."

"Do we think three people will be enough to take out the machines?" Silica pulled back on a lever with ease and turned to the others.

Kirito shrugged. "It's better than if we had too many. Our job is to get in and get out. We want to remain as unnoticed as possible."

The _Pina_ shot out from the void of space, and very quickly, the planet Dromund Kaas took their view. Dark blue and green wisps made up the dreary planet's surface, and symbolized both a haunting natural side to the outer crust, and the oppressive metal sectors that marked the home of the Sith Empire.

"Cloak engaged." Silica spoke with nerves shaking her voice. "All our shields have been shut down, and the power has been converted over to stealth mode."

The crew of the _Pin_ a held their breaths as they passed by several large Harrower-class dreadnaughts of the Sith Empire, and just to the left of their flight course, the great Imperial Space Station of Dromund Kaas sat floating at the center of the large imposing fleet.

"There's the _Rosario_." Lisbeth pointed out the lead flagship of the grand Sith Armanda, as it sat just above the spaceport. The space station blocked her view from the remaining Sith cruisers. She was also forced to delete her entire friends' list to keep off their radars as they exited hyperspace. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Why?" Kirito chuckled and turned around in his chair as the _Pina_ took its decent through fog and swampy canopies. "You were the one who defected the Sith to join us. You could have just waited back at Coruscant and let us do all the dying if you're that skeptical about everything."

"Don't make me regret my decision, Ass." Lisbeth turned and snapped at the boy walking away, all while Silica tried to hold down the cloaking device on the _Pina_ while making their landing.

Kirito turned around, and walked backwards as he kept up his usual smile. "Hey, I asked you to join, but I never forced you to help us out. You want to see an end to this game just as much as we do."

"Okay?" Lisbeth raised an eyebrow and noticed Kirito opening a closet door at the back of the large cockpit. "and your point is...?"

"Well..." Kirito flipped on the light, and looked down at the object hiding in the closet. "Let's just say I find you lack of faith disturbing."

Kirito wheeled out a dormant T7 droid unit lined with silver and pink accents, and waited to place it at the center of the room once the feet of the _Pina_ were up, and Silica had shut down the power.

"I hope that was the droid model you asked for." Silica asked awkwardly. "I had a hard time requesting the exact design on the GTS. Master Agil had to haggle the price down for me."

"It'll work perfectly, thanks Silica! Now I just need to take the file from her old model...and..."

The lights on the T7 flashed on, and a quick ding powered through the audio feed as a yellow light flashed from the scope on its front. Finally, a small purple hologram shot out from the front, and a tiny girl with long black hair gave the three members of the _Pina_ a firm salute.

"T7-UE is back online! I'm here to help!"

"Sounds good, Yui. We'll need you to scan the surface of the planet for us, and locate the Sith's primary laboratories under Kaas City."

"Okay, daddy! Leave that to me!"

* * *

 **1\. Kirito and Chrysheight have an interesting break-down of the Mathis Family. Why are they so obsessed with the Meticuboid...?**

 **2\. Ah, the classic Star Wars round-table war council before facing off against the big bad Empire...lot's of _Return of the Jedi_ getting channeled in this half of the story!**

 **3\. Is this the way for Admiral Sinon? I noticed a comment or two asking about Mandalorian armor, and I was counting down the chapters to fulfill that request! I had a plan to insert it for one of the final battles when I first made this story, but after the release of the show this past fall I had to rewrite a few things. When I came up with my idea for it, I just had the Clone Wars/Rebels cartoons and the Fetts to base it off of. Don't worry! I'm not just stuffing it in here to reference the TV show(s). It will actually serve a purpose...I have spoken.**

 **4\. Yui is back, and the invasion of Dromund Kaas is underway. No Asuna this chapter. Very ominous...**

 **Until Next Time!**


	35. 34: Down with the Empire!

**Author's Note: Chapter 34! No news, just enjoy!**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Four - Down with the Empire!

* * *

Kirito led Silica and Lisbeth behind the T7 droid, Yui, as the small assault squad tip-toed their way through the forests of Dromund Kaas, and into the imperial fold near the entrances of Kaas City.

The grounds were crawling with Sith troopers and Dark Lords, and up in the skies above the city, large Harrower cruisers were taking to the atmosphere by order of Emperor Lusac.

Yui propped up a small map of the city, and turned to show the three humans following behind her tracks. "Okay, the grounds of the city are set with wide walkways, and large overarching bridges connect the upper levels with one another all around the main court yard."

"Wow." Kirito tried his best to not ignore his daughter's briefing before the assault, but he was looking over a bush that gave him an conveniently nice view into the town. "It's a lot cleaner inside than I expected it to be. Those walls are super tall!"

"Yea, my player apartment is actually in Kaas City. I've missed that personalized stronghold ever since I followed Asuna across the galaxy looking for you..."

"Maybe if we win here, and we don't manage to destroy the planet, your apartment can house our next meeting for finding Peter Mathis." Kirito gave her a smirk, but never turned to show her as he tried to survey the grounds himself. "This isn't perfect, though. There are a lot more guards than I realized."

Yui agreed, but her hand started to rub her lower chin as if her plan had just managed to change. "Yes, there are, which is why we're going to use Lisbeth's housing features to call us a transport to her balcony."

"Oh right!" Lisbeth snapped her fingers and rubbed the droid Yui on its metallic head. "Good idea, little clanker! I can call a taxi service to and from my apartment. Then we can use that to get inside the Citadel!"

"This is all working out to be too easy...I hope we know what we're doing." Silica clutched her blaster pistol, and turned to see several guards walking their way.

"Don't worry, Kirito smiled, and drew two empty lightsaber handles as he readied them for anything that might attack their group. "Everyone was worried that Amanda would be the only player strong enough to beat Lucas, which is why I managed to grab something from our fight back on Coruscant to help me challenge the Emperor...something that may let me get inside his head."

* * *

The black skies beyond Dromund Kaas were empty of all crafts, all except the limited imperial fleet stationed on guard. The medium-sized defense that was left to hover above the planet was watching ever carefully to see when a Republic assault would appear on the horizon.

Admiral Sinon was dressed to the nines in her brand new beskar-plated armor. The deep green and chromatic steel color became the envy of the entire crew aboard the _Mother's Rosario._

One Imperial Operative felt very envious of the new admiral too, both in title and in favors. "I still don't know how Lisbeth's stupid Mantis ship was able to out-speed my Phantom. I should have found the kid first."

Sinon rolled her eyes as the Republic turn-cloak, Argo, stood behind her, looking out the large bay window accenting the bridge of the dreadnaught. The sniper's helmet was in her right arm, and her Amben-styled sniper rifle sat strapped to her back. A new, black cloak symbolizing her status as a Grand Admiral hung from her right shoulder, and fell off the back to her lower side.

"If I knew you wanted the armor so badly, I would have been happy to give it to you before it became bound to my account. I shouldn't even be wearing it if I'm being completely honest."

"Why?" Argo scoffed and fiddled with a small audio gadget as she tried hearing a signal from down on the planet. "Too good to wear combat armor as a Grand Admiral?"

Sinon stared into open space, as the stars reflected off her clear-cut glasses. "It's not because of my rank, it's because of my class. I'm still a Sniper. If an enemy gets close enough to me for the armor to do its job, then that means I've already failed at doing mine."

And just like a scene out of the famous films, dozens of star cruisers shot out from the void of space, and exited their jump from hyperspeed to join the Sith fleet above Dromund Kaas. Scores of Republic Valor-Class cruisers had started to make way for the orbit of the planet, and three large crews of fighters shot from the bowels of the core ships to attack the defending Sith Empire

Admiral Chrysheight smirked through the wide window of his lead ship, which he oddly dubbed the _Rath_. He surveyed the fleet from Coruscant as it left the closest hyper-lane, and called over to his men on the communications link. "All squadrons, please, report in."

Grand Master Agil spun his daunting blue Jedi Defender starship toward the looming battlefield, a ship which he named the _Battle Axe_ due to its oddly large shape at the bow, and a calling memory from a style of weapon that he used in another world.

Agil sounded back, delivering his call-sign. "Blue leader, standing by."

Klein led an entire fleet of crimson Republic Liberator fighters through the other side of the field, and powered on the shields to his impressive vessel, the _Salamander_.

"Red leader, standing by." He was feeling quite sure of himself for the battle just beyond his view.

A third set of fighters, mainly made up of BT-7 Thunderclaps, were all dyed with yellow paint, as a higher-up Commando on Agil's Republic council led them on the right end of space.

"Gold leader, standing by."

Agil nodded, and switched on a control to turn on his forward deflector shields. "To all ships that need it, lock S-foils in attack formation."

The more advanced Liberator-Class fighters folded their extended wings out to battle mode, and raced in to follow their commanding assault team as the battle started to erupt.

Chrysheight took a deep breath, and felt the smirk fade from his now serious face. "May the Force be with us."

* * *

Kirito, meanwhile, had just powered on his two lightsabers to take out approaching Sith Warriors jeopardizing his mission. He and the group had taxied into the player home occupied by Lisbeth, and unfortunately met up with a band of Sith guards during their descent. In his right was still the red lightsaber that he earned from Asuna's victory over Trentyn on Tatooine, but in his left hand he now held a brilliant mint green color, almost a greenish cyan that deflected a bolt shot out by a guard to his right.

A small craft hand landed with them on Lisbeth's balcony platform, and caused the crew to jump back in the speeder quickly, and make way for the bottom of the Citadel.

Kirito kept his lightsabers on as he hit lasers back at the returning fire from their rear. Lisbeth had equipped her sleek hunter's helmet, and shot out several bolts as well to try and take out the engines of the approaching speeder.

Silica steered her way through the high rises of Kaas City, and allowed Yui to hook into the control box to upload a map to the navigation system.

"Guys!" Silica heard alarms flaring up from several laser blasts that made it past Kirito's defenses and into her back-right engine. "You're going to have to start taking more of them down if we hope to land at the right coordinates!"

"AGh!" Lisbeth let out a loud battle cry as she tossed a sticky thermal detonator, and managed to take out one of the three approaching cars. "Easy for you to say, Pig-tails! Try shaking some of them off through the skyscrapers! We can only hit so many of them at a time!"

"That's...ugh...true!" Kirito wanted to mediate between them, and looked down at the map Yui had provided. "But...We don't necessarily need to land on the coordinates."

"What?" Silica spun around a large satellite antenna, and tried to looked back at the crazed sword-wielding saint. "What do you have in mind, exactly?"

He could tell by her voice that she already knew the answer, but just to be safe, yelled back to Yui to give her a heads up. "Yui, try to hold on as best as you can. Lis, keep ahold of the door. If they shoot us down into a crash landing, we can fake our deaths in the crash. It might fake them out and get them off out tail."

A second laser blast abruptly took aim for the left engine, and hit its mark perfectly as Silica started spinning out of control. Lisbeth powered on a jetpack, and just after Yui insisted on using her own jets to escape the crash too. Kirito scooped up Silica with two hands, and leapt out of the falling speeder just down on the platform at the foot of the citadel tower.

The fighters chasing them circled around the tower, and tried to commit to another lap before doubling their search. Silica clapped as she looked at their victorious escape. "Wow, you were right, they totally fell for it!"

"Yep, they sure did..." Lisbeth sighed, and took off her helmet. "Guess it's a good thing I left this faction full of idiots while I had a chance."

She then turned to see the large wall of the citadel's exterior standing high in front of them, then delivered a cute yet sarcastic smile to the group leader.

"Alright, time for your flashy laser swords to cut us a path inside."

* * *

Klein was sailing over the hull of a Harrower Sith ship as he shot two enemy Mk. VI Supremacy Fighters out of the sky. During the long-time repairs dealt to his ship, he had the man-led turrets on the top and bottom connected to his forward controls.

Now, he could blast imperial scum by his own hand without the need for a crew or co-pilot. He was easily the fastest small ship in the skies at the moment, and circled around to watch his buzzing Red Squadron take out several turrets along the edge of the cruiser.

"Klein!" Agil called over through his mic. "Keep to the edge of the fight. We can't engage with aggressive tactics until we've confirmed that Kirito and the others have taken out the teleporters on the surface!"

Klein shrugged, and took out two more ships as he drove the bow of his ship to the center of the attack. "They're just sitting here, though! I figured by now something would have given out and shot back at us. Or we would have seen some ships trying to flee the planet out of fear."

"This is very unusual." Agil kept his ship on the periphery of the field. "The player count down on the planet's surface is still the same as it was when we entered the atmosphere. They're not trying to warp off the planet."

Klein tried to find Agil in the skies, and left his squad to their own devices. "But why would they not try to escape if they...if they knew we'd be here."

He then noticed something very odd. The master garrison that Darth Rosario led over the skies of Alderaan was not here. Klein was with Silica and the others that escaped the Sith Lord's fleet right after the Aldreaan battle that cost Leafa her life. He knew the ships from that garrison were black and red, yet all the cruisers except the _Mother's Rosario_ positioned above the space station here at Dromund Kaas were currently grey.

He immediately flipped the radio back on to his entire squad, and made sure to keep his communication up with Agil and the other commanders.

"Break off the attack! This isn't the Korriban fleet!"

Chrysheight was left unconvinced. "But we've confirmed the _Mother's Rosario_ is leading the defense. Are you sure this isn't Asuna's old fleet?"

Klein powered on the main boosters to his ship, and circled to meet his squad. "Pull up! All craft, pull up!"

Agil need no convincing, and rallied his own fighters behind him as they gathered to support the main Republic flagships. "Take evasive action! Gold group, stick close to holding sector 2!"

Chrysheight tried to gather what on Earth was going on, until a large shock took the back of his cruiser, and caused him and the high command on his ship to stumble around the bridge.

"Admiral!" One of his pilots called out. "We have enemy ships in sector 5!

That was the back end of space behind the battlefield, just behind the Republic fleet. Chrysheight looked down at the radar, and noticed within seconds that the Sith Empire had doubled their fleet over Dromund Kaas, and were now ready to bring an even fight to the Republic.

"We were tricked..." He muttered to himself with dissatisfaction and a befuddled expression. "It's just like the fight from the films...It's a trap!"

* * *

"Aaand there! No player can warp away from Dromund Kaas!"

Lisbeth had just finished dismantling the warp technology developed by Amun-din, and stolen by Lusac to keep all Sith players trapped to the planet. The only way to leave the planet's surface now, was to enter the chaotic dogfight breaking out above.

Kirito had just pulled his blade from an enemy player's body, and let the fallen drop to the floor as he turned to gather the others. "So where to next? We need to get to work on the Shock Drum."

"He's right." Silica held her weapon up, and followed the group down the corridor leading to the southern tower. "Our fleet can't hold them off forever."

"Hold yer horses." Lisbeth was trying to calm her new friends down, and read Yui's flashing radar. "We're going to have to find an elevator shaft or something to make it down to the secret lab. Your Republic leaders said it was underground so..."

"DADDY!" Yui turned on like a racecar and shot for the nearest elevator door. "The Shock Drum is right below us! 30 floors down!"

"That's great!" Silica ran after her, and Lisbeth followed. Kirito ran slowly behind them.

"Nice find, Yui! We need to make sure to stick together once we end up down..."

Kirito stopped walking, and felt a small shiver of cold take his spine. A pulsating energy was growing large every time he took a step further down into the lab. He also felt his vision growing cloudy, that is until a vision of a bizarre temple shrouded by the lush jungle of the planet's dreary surface formed inside his mind.

He quickly grew distracted, and turned to run back the way they came without alerting the three girls. Just as Lisbeth's boots hit the inside of the elevator, the door started to shut, but the tiny droid noticed their party was now a whole member short.

"DADDY!" Yui shrieked through the closing doors, and let the elevator take her and the others down to the depths of the Sith Citadel. Meanwhile, Kirito had a new mission of his own to take care of.

* * *

"Fighters coming in!"

Gold Leader shouted over his comms. link as a horde of Sith Supremacy-class fighters zoomed through their ranks, and swarmed their offensive with glowing green and red firepower.

"There're too many of them!" Agil was trying to avoid getting hit, but every time he swayed out of the way of one of their hosts, a second came that much closer to hitting his other side.

Klein, on the other hand, stayed calm and collected. He re-routed his squadron to cover the flanking Sith coming from Sector 4 and 5, and then tried to gather what he could from the others.

"We need to accelerate to attack speed. It'll draw the enemy away from our cruisers!"

"Copy, Red Leader." Agil obliged, and caught the attention of even more enemy ships. Blue group and Red group were taking on a full enemy fleet at this point, while Gold was left to guard the Rath and the other command ships.

"Are we not going to attack?" Argo shouted off at Sinon, who remained calm and in command of the _Mother's Rosario_.

The Sniper shared out her next point to be made. "I have direct orders to hold this fleet here while the Korriban forces take them out from behind. If you'd like you can take them ship to ship."

Argo had already made her way from the door and snapped at two of Sinon's personal guards. These were guards given to her by Emperor Lusac from his very throne room. "Two men, come with me."

They nodded, and as the three left for the hangers down below, Sinon nodded at her rapidly swelling radar. Four guards remained at her side.

One technician in her command crew turned from his desk and shouted over to his C-O. "Admiral, the deflector shields are only holding out at 50% power!"

Sinon nodded firmly, and turned to address her remaining guard. "Captain, prep my shuttle for the Space Station. I'll take the command from there."

Klein soared past the wing of the _Mother's Rosario_ , and tried taking out its forward guns. His shots missed, but only because three enemy crafts scared him off the course.

"Watch yourself, Man. You're getting swarmed up there!"

"I got it, I got it..." Klein mumbled back into his microphone, and engaged the shields to his rear. "Red group, I need three men!"

He received help, then rallied his small escort back around the side of the ship. As they emerged to the bow, a large crew of new ships exited the central hanger of the black and red command dreadnaught. Two swift X-70B Phantom shuttles were being escorted by a swarm of fighters as they separated and spilled out into space.

The two shuttles split apart, and each carried five ships surrounding their hulls. Agil flipped on his targeting computer, and flew after the one heading back for the space station. "They've broken up. Six ships heading for the _Rath_."

Klein laughed, and powered on his boosters as even his side ships failed to keep up with his immense speed. "Cut off the other one, Agil, I'll take this guy!"

He spun around a cloud of explosive fire that formed from a destroyed bomber to his starboard side, and shot a barrage of laser bolts at the fleeing Phantom ship.

Meanwhile, the pilot, Argo, was taking the elegant Sith shuttle down lower to the surface of the Rath. Her Phantom-Class starship was named The Informant, and she was proving to be just as crafty of a pilot as Klein.

"This is getting pretty difficult...this kid can really fly."

Agil was having an equally difficult time with his assault on the other fleeing shuttle. The name of this Phantom starship was actually a play on its class title. Sinon piloted the Phantom Bullet with great ease, and dodged every shot that Agil sent her way. Her escort was starting to break down the Master Jedi's defensive crew as well, and all this forced Agil to peel up and try again for another fly around.

"This person is quite the commander...the Force is strong with them too."

"Master Agil!" Chrysheight tried reaching out to his ally. "The Sith Space Station is the one calling in more reinforcements for their fleet. You need to take out that spaceport's communications, or blow it out of the sky if we want to stop them from getting any more aid!"

Agil heard him loud and clear, and then decided that the shuttle would not be his target, but instead the entire space station would.

"Blue group, Gold group! All fighters available for an assault head for the Sith Space Station!"

"We're on our way!" Yelled several pilots to Jedi Master Agil. He quickly lost Sinon's escort ships as they started defending themselves from incoming fire. The Jedi pilot tried taking out the hanger-side guns from the Sith spaceport before his crew entered for their official assault, but just then one of the bolts shot his port side engine, and sent him tumbling toward the hanger too.

"Blue group! I'm coming in hot toward the hanger! All shuttle-class aircrafts follow me in for an internal attack!"

His Jedi Defender scraped the ground of the Sith spaceport, and as the doors shot open, a blue lightsaber was ready to combat the Sith crews that were stationed inside the central hanger. Several more Republic shuttles landed safely behind the _Battle Axe_.

After securing the hanger a full battalion of Republic commandos, several Jedi knights, and a few smugglers all followed Jedi Master Agil into the innards of the spaceport.

"Find the main reactor room and take it out. My unit will take out the command and communications. We'll meet back in the hanger once the alarm sounds."

* * *

Kazuto Kirigaya had finally made it out of the expansive city on Dromund Kaas, and through the thick jungle hiding the Sith's secret temple. He felt an ominous presence coming from the innards of this dreadful hall, but also noticed the crew and guards stationed outside it had been called up to the battles above.

He kept his weapons at his side, and continued walking into the same labyrinth that Sinon followed before, only this time no guards or Sith Warriors waited inside to greet their unexpected guest.

Then, the core of his heart felt like it had turned to ice, and a small headache was growing ever piercing in the front of his head. He tried to fight this feeling, but also managed to locate a large set of golden doors that seemed to aggravate his situation even more.

He pushed the doors open with the power of the Force, and walked in to find a large, ornate throne room with vaulted ceilings, and elaborate Sith Empire banners showcased at every corner. Odd artifacts dangled from the ceiling like giant stalactites decorated with ancient Sith carvings, but just above in front of the largest Sith banner in the room, sat a chair accented by fiery blue braziers lighting up the gold in the throne's arms.

Emperor Lusac did not lean forward, but merely waved a hand to greet his expected guest. "The circle is now complete. The boy who killed my sweet sister has come to take my life too."

"Luke Mathis." Kirito balled his hands into fists, and kept his wits about him. "You're going to pay for trying to research that Shock Drum I discovered. You and the Sith Fleet are stranded here while the planet killer is being set to blow as we speak."

Emperor Lusac mockingly guffawed, and shifted his weight to his other side. "Then why did you come all the way here to find me?"

"You and I have some unfinished business." Kirito narrowed his vision, and waited for the Emperor to join him. "I take it your Royal Guard must be up in the dog fight?"

"They are indeed, yes. I lent them to your friend, Sinon, as a gift. She's the acting Grand Admiral of my forces, do you know?"

"Grr." Kirito gritted his teeth together, and pointed up at the obnoxious Lord of the Sith. "GET OFF YOUR DAMN THRONE AND FIGHT ME!"

"HA! Now!?" Lusac sat up, and clapped his hands together. "But you're so...unbalanced! I would make easy work of you if we were to fight one another here. Besides...it's just like you told my friend, Trentyn...I'm not your true enemy, am I?"

Kirito reached down for his weapons, but never pulled them up. "I'll ask about your father when I have you on the ground, dying with pain, and begging for me to end you."

"You're a fool, Kirito!" Lusac howled. "That sort of vengefulness is not the Jedi way."

Kirito had just about had enough, and took the silver lightsaber handles off his belt. "I already told your sister...I am no Jedi."

"I know that, and that makes you a waste of my time." Lusac smirked down with his pale face looming underneath a dark hood. "Which is why I will not fight you. I'll leave that to my executioner. The _Empire's Wrath_."

He pressed a button on his throne, and Kirito jumped back to see that a small circular hole had opened from the ground at the foot of the staircase leading up to his throne. Kirito held his lightsabers, though they were still turned off as he tried to collect the horrible feeling that continued to grow inside his mind.

Now though, his eyes were open, just like the first day he saw her. The day she took the life of his little sister, Suguha. The Dark apprentice of Emperor Lusac had risen once again from the fight on Ilum. Darth Rosario stood before the grey Jedi now, with eyes taken by sinister pain and suffering.

He had no way of recognizing her beautiful face under all the scars and breathing equipment, but he knew by those fiery orange eyes, which were now completely taken by the Dark Side, that Asuna Yuuki had fully bent to the will of the Dark Lord.

"Asuna...no..."

* * *

 **1\. So Lisbeth had a player home, and they found a way to use it to their advantage.**

 **2\. Sinon is the Imperial Admiral, but Chrysheight and the crew fly through space to challenge the Empire.**

 **3\. Lots of call-backs to ROTJ here Yes, I'm cheap, but I'm just trying to be goofy with it! (Like those famous lines from Lando and Ackbar)**

 **4\. Found the Sith Labs, found the Emperor, and...uh oh, found Asuna. How will the hero get past this daunting presence?!**

 **Until next time!**


	36. 35: Battle of the Heroes

**Author's Note: Well good lord! The world is on quarantine, my Xbox keeps crapping its pants, and I'm settling under social distancing in my cozy apartment for 3 weeks. Life has sure gotten strange!**

 **But I have had time to review some chapters for this story, so here's a new one for ya! The title is another triumphant song name from the film score of John Williams.**

 **Also, I do not own Star Wars or Sword Art Online.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Five - Battle of the Heroes

* * *

"Asuna...no...that can't be you."

Asuna Yuuki was wearing a full black robe around a modest red skirt hanging from her waist, similar to her outfit from Aincrad. Her legs were fully covered by slim grey trousers underneath, and her feet were matched with Sith styled boots of soft black leather.

Her upper body resembled her wardrobe from the Knights of the Blood Oath as well, albeit with a small change of flair more befitting to the universe of the galaxy far far away. Her shoulders were still slightly exposed, but her arms, torso, and chest were all lined with a thin Sith tunic that sat underneath a sturdy steel breathing apparatus. Her neck was covered by the metal pieces, and her mouth was hidden behind the evil contraption of the Sith as well. Only her hair, eyes, and the upper part of her face were visible. Eyes alight with the fire of the Dark Side, and a face pale with virtually white skin.

Somehow though, her hair remained auburn, and her curved lightsaber stayed hanging from the left side of her belt. She stood making no sounds, nothing even came from her new machinery that was responsible for taking care of her breathing now. She just stood waiting, and watched the boy Kirito with anger building up inside her veins.

"Asuna..." Kirito held up one of his hands, which still held the dead lightsaber as he tried to reach out with his true feelings. "What did he do to you...?"

"Me?!" Lusac shouted out, mocking the audacity held in Kirito's comment. "What did I do to her? You were the one who betrayed her trust! You were the one who injured her over the skies of Ilum! I had trained her to forget all attachments...and then out of the blue you show up through an invitation from my father, an stole her heart away once more."

"What happened with you in ALO? Your sister told me you were a developer!" Kirito realized Asuna was nether talking nor moving forward, so he decided to probe Lusac with questions while he still had the chance.

Lusac rolled his eyes, and leaned back into his large chair. "You do not need to know about my time in the game of the Fairies. That monster, Nobuyuki Sugo is locked up now. That world is out of our hands. We're both here now...you have your own battle to fight before me."

Kirito looked away from the Emperor, and noticed Asuna had taken a slight step forward. Her forehead had lowered just by a fraction, and a small shadow had taken her brow.

Kirito wanted to feel as fierce as he did when he first entered the throne room, but now, more and more confusion stirred within his mind as he became further and further unbalanced.

"Oh and by the way..." Lusac smirked, with a small bit of theater coming from his delivery. "I'm afraid the Shock Drum will remain quite dormant when your friends discover it."

Kirito left Lusac alone to cackle atop his high chair after that comment, and only left words for Asuna as she inched closer with anger.

"Asuna...please...just say something...anything."

She did not respond. Darth Rosario never even blinked.

"Asuna...I will not fight you."

Despite his own wishes, anger was starting to build up inside Kirito now, too. This figure, this menace before him was no longer the girl he fell in love with back in Sword Art Online.

If this was the creature that consumed Asuna Yuuki, then it needed to be destroyed here and now.

Asuna closed her eyes, and reached down to grab the curved handle from her beltloop. She pulled it to the right, and powered on the crimson red blade with a spinning salute aimed at her new enemy.

Kirito was furious now. Anger and hate were both through building, and even the corners of his own eyes were starting to turn a golden shade of yellow. He grabbed the red and green lightsabers in his hands, and turned them on to combat the titan to his front.

The two fallen heroes lunged forward, and met their blades in a horrifying song of battle.

* * *

Lisbeth, Silica and Yui had made it into the inner chambers of the underground Sith laboratories. After easily discovering the imposing Shock Drum that stood almost as large as two shuttles combined, it appeared the crew that had just worked on it was asked to dismantle the core pieces, and flee to the sky battle by order of Emperor Lusac.

"Horizontal boosters?"

Lisbeth had her head stuck underneath the large Shock Drum unit, and Silica was both trying to deliver her parts, and watch for Imperial soldiers. Yui sat alone off to the side with her canister tilted downward.

Lisbeth was done with that, and tossed some equipment back to her aid. "Alluvial dampers?"

Silica's head was starting to hurt as she tried to dig through the imperials' cluttered tool kit.

Lisbeth took that, but stuck her other hand out for something else. "Leeway wrench?"

Silica tossed it down to the Power Tech, but slowly wondered away from the make-shift works shop. "I'm starting to fall behind here...I'm going to go catch my breath."

"Fine by me..." Lisbeth scoffed and tossed the wrench given to her back into the kit. "Damn moof-milker...that was a Bosin wrench, anyway."

Silica made it over to the oddly dormant Yui, and tried to see what was the matter. "Yui? Are you still trying to find Kirito?"

It took a small while, but eventually the small purple hologram of Yui flew itself from the droid's projector, and continued looking down into the ground.

"I lost my connection with him. I'm worried he's in danger."

"Kirito...always seems to be in danger." Silica tried to smile through that statement. "But I've noticed, that in the end he always finds a way to get out of things alive. He's a pretty special player, even in this universe."

The holographic Yui was ready to shed a tear of sorrow, but a tiny smile began taking her face. "Silica...are you sure your memories of Daddy are still gone?"

The befuddled Smuggler had no way of answering that, and leaned back with a face full of red. "I don't know, w-why?"

Yui chuckled into her hand, and wiped away a set of tears forming under her eyes. "Because I could see the you from the real world saying something just like that in this situation."

Lisbeth shouted over to the two of them from her work station. Her head was still buried beneath the bottom of the war machine. "That Kirito kid may be noble, but he does have an eye for danger. The stupid guy flew right into Korriban after leaving Dagobah to take Asuna back on his own."

"Teehee!" Yui giggled softly as she tried remembering the scene before her over long hiatus. "When daddy is determined, he usually can't be stopped. Especially when it involves finding Mommy!"

Silica sighed, and Lisbeth growled from underneath the machine as her face changed colors. "Yea...gag me. That was also pretty stupid of him to run toward the Empire's hidden throne room to take down the Emperor alone."

"...WHAT!?"

Silica and Yui both shouted out at the working bounty hunter, who reluctantly banged her head on the metal slab over her body after hearing their ruckus from outside.

"What!? What!?" She yelled out to the screaming girls. "It's pretty obvious what he was doing the whole time. He tricked the entire Republic to smuggle himself down to Dromund Kaas. He was set on taking out the Emperor on his own this whole time...our assault was just an added bonus, I suppose."

Silica tried to gather everything she had just heard, but Yui took no time to waste as she turned on her power cell, and flew back down the hallway that led them down into the laboratory.

"I'm going after daddy! I have a feeling why he was trying to find Lusac!"

"Yui..." Silica held a hand to her heart, and watched the T7 unit leave for the corner, and into the darkness.

Lisbeth waved her hand from underneath the metal, and carried on in her work. "Let her go. She was dying to see him again anyway. If we're lucky, the Emperor will be there for Kirito to...wait, I think I got it!"

Silica turned around, and Lisbeth rolled out from under the Shock Drum to dust her hands off in pride. "Score one for the greatest Power Tech in the galaxy! Let's power on the controls and get this thing shaking!"

Silica jumped off her seat and cheered for the Power Tech. "Lis that's amazing! Now we can defeat Lusac and get out of the game!"

Lisbeth stood with great haste, but stopped, and turned to her pigtailed friend from the Republic. "Yikes, I almost forgot to do one last thing!

The Bounty Hunter quickly drew her favorite sidearm, and shot Silica right in the chest. The small Republic Smuggler felt her chin drop down more than usual, and her eyes grew wide as the whole in her upper abdominal flared with an orange glow.

The little girl fell over after the shot, and Lisbeth twirled her blaster pistol around to give it a blow from her lips. She smiled smoothly and turned back for the computer. "Emperor Lusac told me to get it back to working, but never told me to switch on the power. I wonder if he wants the thing shipped off world or..."

"Lis..."

The Bounty Hunter raised an eyebrow, and turned to find Silica lying near-death on the ground. Then she laughed.

"Hey kid, I did my mission. I'm a BOUNTY HUNTER fighting for the EMPIRE! My leader told me to carry out a job, and I followed. End of story...don't use that BS that we're all friends IRL to try and change my mind..."

She turned back to the screen, and continued messing with the controls. She expected to hear a 'ding' sound to confirm that the battery cell had been attached, but never expected to hear a faint hissing noise instead.

Nor did she expect to see a large cloud of smoke coming from behind. She drew her wrist flamethrower, and shot a large ball of fire at the now empty spot where Silica was just lying.

"Ugh!" She stomped her foot down, and drew the night vision visor from her inventory. "Lousy nerfherder...she'll be wishing that I killed her with that shot once I find her after this."

Silica had rolled out of the way from her own smoke grenade, and managed to leap from Lisbeth's wrist fire. The crafty smuggler then threw herself into the dark hallway that Yui turned trough to leave for the surface, and buffed the small chest piece that she wore to block the bullet.

"This is not good...this is really really bad." Silica grabbed her hand gun, and hid around the corner to try and locate where the bounty hunter had gone next. "I have to stay hidden from my psycho best friend, who also specializes in hunting people down? ...I'm not going to survive this!"

* * *

Klein zipped through the space above Dromund Kaas as he tried clearing enemy fighters off the hull of the flagship _Rath_. Republic forces were holding their own very well in the overarching dogfight among the stars, but this one fighter pilot was evading every single thing that Klein through her way.

"This person is crazy fast! It's like they know where I'm coming from at every angle. I can't get a leg up on this freak!"

The _Informant_ flew swiftly threw the details of the Republic flagship Valor-Class, and Klein stayed right on its tail as he preserved his fire for open space. His shields remained at his rear, and his targeting computer remained on during the entire pursuit across the hull.

"Red Leader! Gold group and Blue groups have begun their assault on the enemy's forward command. What are your orders?"

Klein was getting distracted by this rogue pilot, and had no care for what his squadron would do next. "Either stay defensive with the fleet, or engage the enemy's fighters. I'm staying on the leader!"

He kept his thumbs on the trigger of his controls as the bow of the _Salamander_ aimed right for the end of the Informant.

"Don't worry..." He whispered brashly to himself as he waited for a clear shot. "I'll make this quick..."

Meanwhile, Master Agil was dueling a set of Sith Warriors down within the hallways of the Imperials' prized space station. The enemy was growing oddly large inside the limited spaceport, which meant Agil and his mean had to finish their task, and evacuate the ship immediately.

He slashed his way through one Sith Marauder, then twirled out of the way, and stuck the Sith Juggernaut with the end of his blue saber, slashing his body into the ground as his commandos followed up on his advancement.

"Come on! The General is leading us this way!"

Agil kept a determine expression glued to his face, but a sudden sense of shock fell over his body as he felt grave danger at the end of the exposed hallway.

"Look out!" He jumped over, and pushed his commanders out of the way. A large vaporizing ion shot came from the far end of the corridor, and nearly wiped the entire pursuit squad out in a single shot.

Agil held his Jedi's weapon firmly, but barely peaked out from the corner to see what danger lied beyond his point.

"Is that a...Manadalorian? They have impenetrable armor."

A second shot came for the group, but hit the other side of the corridor as the skilled sniper managed to trim the fat from a trooper sticking out in view. The person's body turned to dust with the impact of the bolt, and left Agil with an odd sense of wonder as he watched the scene unfold.

 _"That accuracy...this feeling...I know this enemy. It has to be her."_

Agil looked over at the commandos hiding on the other side of the doorway, and signaled for them to retreat around back. They nodded, and the entire squad followed the leaders out the back hallway and returned to the hanger for a new pathway into the command bridge.

Agil then stepped out, and held his blue lightsaber high as he delivered a calm Jedi's smile to his distant opponent. "You're the sniper from the raid on Coruscant! Sinon, is it? I've heard a lot about you!"

Sinon tried to gather her emotions, but let out a gasp the moment the Jedi Master recognized her. His deep, booming voice pierced her eardrums, and also seemed to be distantly familiar as she tried to remember where else she heard it before.

 _"Did he speak to me on Coruscant? No... we never even met each other in the eyes...he must know me from the real world. Just another friend I'll be forced to kill in the name of this lousy War. Can't this fight be done with already!?"_

She turned around the wall again, and noticed her mind slipped and allowed the daunting Jedi Master to advance up the hallway, and close in on her location. He tossed his lightsaber like a boomerang, and hit her right in the arm, but her sturdy beskar gauntlet was enough to protect her body, and allowed her to bash the blade away into the wall.

Agil retrieved it, and lunged up into the air for a second attack, but Sinon rolled around, and placed a thermal mine on the ground in her place. Agil held a hand over the device, and shrouded it with the Force to keep the explosion down to its smallest size. He turned to find the Mandalorian sniper fleeing down the rest of the hallway, and instantly pursued her.

Sinon would turn around to deliver occasional warning shots, but Agil would easily deflect them into the wall or back her way. The sniper wound up taking some of the hits without fear, and other times she shot out a grappling hook to the wall, and pulled herself further out of danger.

"Are you sure you're just a sniper. Sinon?" Agil sounded very impressed as he kept up his chase. "You really seem like a powerful Sith player right now!"

"Stop talking to me..." She mumbled to herself, and tossed out a small droid that spilt into four sections, creating a medium-height ray shield to protect her while she pulled back on her rifle's chamber handle.

"You're not my friend here, Agil! You're just a DEAD MAN!"

She shot a large blaster bolt out from her sniper rifle, and as the shot came at an impressive speed, Agil rolled out from underneath its trajectory, and tossed his saber to take out the corners of her hovering forcefield.

He rolled in front of the fallen sniper rifle after the recoil knocked her to her feet, and retrieved his spinning laser sword as he placed the tip just underneath her chin.

"You're not my enemy..." Agil spoke calmly as he looked Sinon deep in her eyes. "You are my ally from another world..."

"Agh!" Sinon's brain was starting to hurt slightly, and her hand immediately went up to her forehead. "I'm not you...ugh...ally!"

"You will stop fighting me, Sinon! And you will tell me where Asuna is!"

Agil knew that if the Republic was unable to defeat the Sith here, they should at least try to save their IRL friends from the grip of the Empire. Thus, in order to break the mental hold of the Dark Side, he would have to act with a Force user's trick of his own.

"I will...I will...AGH...!"

She let out a large cry, then went silent as her eyes grew large and pale. Slowly, Sinon stood up, and slung her large sniper rifle onto her shoulder.

"I will tell you were Asuna is...please, this way." Sinon turned around, and started walking back toward the forward command bridge. Meanwhile, Agil sighed, and put away his lightsaber.

"That would have been close. I'm not sure I'd be able to kill another player in this game, let alone someone who is supposed to be my..."

He stopped thinking, and looked up, Sinon's right hand was raised, and a metal sphere topped with a blinking red light sat loosely in her palm. She lightly tossed it back his way, then shot her grapple hook through a set of blast doors. Agil drew his lightsaber, and barely blocked the explosion with his weapon and knowledge of the Force.

Sinon simply pulled out a blaster pistol, and shot the controls to the blast door behind her, sealing them shut.

"Dumb Jedi...according to you all, I'm already under the mind trick of a far more powerful player..."

* * *

Kirito and Asuna were locked in their violent duel before the throne of Emperor Lusac. Asuna was on the offensive, a tactic different from her usual style of fighting. This caught Kirito by surprise as he found the first moments of the fight were nothing but blocking her attacks and parrying them back her way.

The Force was strong with her, and the Dark Lady of the Sith was trying to cut down every inch of the boy Kirito as he stood with his defenses. She would deliver occasional hacks to the side to draw his lightsabers away from his core, then twist her right hand up as she always did in Aincrad to jab at her opponent's chest.

Kirito was quick enough to deflect these first attacks, but always had to Force leap backwards to avoid the risk of her execute. The Lightning Flash from the Knights of the Blood Oath was quite the master fencer in SAO, but this level of speed and passion was on a far different level.

He slashed his sabers downward, then cut into the ground at her feet to flip over to her left side. Quickly, he brought his hands up, and pushed her with Force energy to set her off balance. Asuna took the hit, and flew backwards, but as she met the wall of the throneroom, her feet caught her landing, and propelled her back his way.

She came in like a dart, and tried hacking off his head, but Kirito rolled out of the way, and missed removing her legs as they flew by his head.

She landed, and he stood up, which brought them both back together. Kirito could hear the Emperor enjoying the fight, and loathed the idea of him being able to see their confrontation like this.

"I can't do this here...Asuna..." Kirito held his sabers as long as he could, while Asuna brought her blade down with more and more strength. He broke his shield, and ran over to the platform that she emerged from for the fight.

As expected, the platform started to carry him below the floor, and just as Asuna jumped high in the air to take him out, he pushed her away with his Jedi abilities, and safely made it into the room down below. Asuna, now snarling with anger behind her mask, jumped through the air again, and chased him down into the basement.

Asuna landed, but quickly heard Kirito's valiant war cry as she turned to find him leaping through the air with both lightsabers raised. The green one missed her head as she ducked, but she caught the red with her own blade, and stood tall to look him in the eyes.

"Asuna...just say something! I'll know you're still in there if you just say something...I'll stop fighting, and let you win, if you just talk to me..."

Her eyes were trimmed with fire, and her off hand was starting to glow purple as small electrical charges built over her knuckles. Kirito narrowed his vision in anger as well, and raised his off-hand green lightsaber.

"IF YOU WON'T TALK, THEN I'LL JUST HAVE TO KILL YOU!"

He brought his green saber over her head, but Asuna shifted her stance, and brought her own left hand to meet it. A large streak of Sith lightning met his blade, and kept him still while she backed away to regain her energy.

Kirito's sabers were crossed together to keep the Sith energy away from his body, and his legs were starting to walk backwards to remove stress from his now tired arms. He yelled through the attack, and finally cut it down, but only as Asuna leapt back towards him, and stabbed forward to try and meet his chest for a second time.

Kirito brought his swords together, and went to combine is attack into an overly powerful smash, but Asuna held both of them down to the side with just one hand and one lightsaber. Her free hand grabbed Kirito by the neck with the Force, and raised him high in the air.

Kirito grasped at his neck, but held on to the handles of his weapons. She threw her arm to the far left, and tossed Kirito into the wall, nearly smashing a hole in the side of the room.

Kirito looked up from his confusion, and noticed Asuna throw her light saber like a boomerang, which stuck its point right beside Kirito's right temple inside the wall. She then waved her right hand across her body, which caused Kirito to duck as he knew the red blade was meant to cut his head from his shoulders. The blade glided through steel over his head as it ripped through the metal wall, and withdrew through the air back to its owner.

Asuna marched forward and drew her weapon back to her side, bringing it above her head for a completing strike, but Kirito grabbed his fallen sabers, and blocked her attack while still sitting on the ground.

He slowly gained power in his feet, and pushed her away for a short second, but then Darth Rosario slashed to the side, and grabbed him by the collar of his tunic. Using the power of her mind alone, she pinned his left hand away from his body, and moved his right hand slowly up to try and have Kirito take off his own head. Kirito gasped for air, then screamed into her menacing face as he shot both of them into the ceiling with a boost from the Force.

Asuna's back slammed into the ceiling, and she fell hard back down to the floor while also dropping her weapon. Kirito flipped away from the scene, and used the Force again to knock the curved-hilt lightsaber away from his lover's side. He jumped in the air with both blades raised, but now Asuna had two free hands to send a very powerful cloud of electrical Sith energy right at his chest, and stalled him there as he tried to defend his life.

Asuna called off her attack, and rolled to the right as Kirito struck the ground with a swift blow where she was standing. She telepathically collected her weapon, and turned the red blade back on to stand at the far side of the field.

Both warriors were still armed, but they stopped to collect their breaths and thoughts at opposite ends of the luxurious basement floor.

"Ahhaaahhh..." Kirito was panting heavily, and held both lightsabers down at his sides as he tried to stand tall. "I'm out of energy...and you are too...just take that ridiculous mask off, and let's talk like we did before."

Asuna was breathing, but no other movement came from the Sith Lord. She kept her eyes sharply on Kirito and allowed him to carry on talking.

"You planned it, yourself. Let me join you, and we can beat the Emperor together! All from the Sith faction if it makes a difference. He's from ALO, Asuna, and he worked for your father"s company...You and I are two of the best players in that game, along with all our friends! We can take him down, and find Peter Mathis together!"

Asuna ignored him, and chose to remain silent by the will of her current Lord.

Kirito had enough, and lowered his head as his eyes closed for concentration. "If you won't talk, and if I can't kill you...fine...then I'll have to take out the guy that's KEEPING YOU QUIET!"

He raised both hands forward, and shoved Asuna back into the wall behind her perch. Then, Kirito jumped on the platform leading back up through the ceiling, and let the elevator lift his body slowly through the floor. He propelled himself through the whole and shot up into the throne room like a rocket in mid-launch.

Kirito raised his arms, and cried at the top of his lungs as he tried to jump towards the throne of Emperor Lusac. The Dark Lord of the Sith paid him no mind, however, as the boy suddenly froze in air, and was immediately pulled back the way he came, and slammed into the main doorway of the vast throne room.

Asuna came up from the platform once again, only this time, she cut the center of the standing plate, hoping that would keep it locked in place. She then walked forward slowly, and drew her blade high to finish what she had set out to do.

"Asuna...If I can't snap you out it...I have no idea what will..."

Kirito regained his stance, and held his lightsabers up as well as he prepared for what was possibly the final fight he would have in the Old Republic Online. He closed his eyes, then felt a disturbing presence shooting through the hallway to his back.

Then, the golden doors open, and her voice shot through the air.

"DADDY!"

" _Yui_..." Kirito's eyes were closed, and a smile crossed over his face as he spoke her name inside his mind. He then nodded slightly forward, never turning around to greet his virtual daughter.

Kirito instead simply lowered his weapons, and allowed Asuna to make her advance. The mighty Sith Lord, Darth Rosario, took no quarter when dealing with the foolish enemy, and quickly cut his right hand off from his arm. She then swayed behind him, spun her lightsaber behind her back, and stuck it into his heart without turning to face him.

Lady Rose had completed her goal, and held her face low as her eyes remained closed to collect her victory. She was waiting to hear the congratulatory cheer from her ruling Emperor, but instead met a far different voice coming from right in front of her face.

A T7 droid unit had just projected a little purple hologram to see the finale of the duel, and as Asuna's eye opened, they met the virtual eyes of a crying little girl. Lost and confused by the sights that she just witnessed.

"Mommy...what did you...?"

"Yui?"

Asuna's voice was finally heard through her sinister mask, and her evil eyes grew wide as the breath in her lungs froze in its place.

* * *

 **So Asuna was totally broken, until...she heard Yui's voice for the first time. I wonder what will happen in the next installment.**

 **I'm also working on a draft for a Kirito x Asuna story set in the work of Dark Souls. Hoping this time off will give me time to expand it. Util next time!**


	37. 36: Heroes on Both Sides

**Author's Note: Let's to ahead with a new chapter! I titled this one after everyone's favorite quote from one of the prequel movies' title crawls.**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Six - Heroes on Both Sides

* * *

Silica was running back through the hallways of the Dromund Kass laboratories as she tried to create distance between her and the treacherous Bounty Hunter, Lisbeth. The girl had been deceived by letting Lisbeth back into the capital to arm the Shock Drum that Emperor Lusac needed to be worked on. Now the Emperor could just transport the fully live planet killer to any system in the galaxy, and destroy at his own will.

She needed to get away, and warn the Republic, but as she passed through the dark, clear black tunnels, all she could hear was burning fuel flying from behind.

Silica dodged out of the way from an incoming wrist rocket, and turned to find Lisbeth was following her from above in an elite Power Tech jetpack. The little girl used this small opportunity to try and tack her confused friend out of all of this.

"Lisbeth! Why are you turning on us again? We want you to help the Republic and help us get out of the game!"

"You CAPTURED me!" Lisbeth yelled down to the tiny little girl trying to flee from her aerial attack. "You and that bearded idiot took me from the Empire, then tried tricking me into helping you win this war!"

"Lisbeth, Emperor Lusac is the one tricking you, not us!" Silica rolled sideways, and shot several glowing orange lasers at the bounty hunter, who easily dodge them by hovering lazily to the left. "We need you to help us get Asuna and the others back!"

"Listen to yourself..." Lisbeth wanted to stop flying and just nuke the whole building down on this idiotic girl. "Asuna is NOT your friend from some other video game! She is a Sith Lord who KILLED your Jedi Master Leafa, and if he's not careful, she'll kill that Kirito boy too!"

Silica stopped running, and held her arms down as they quaked with anger. Lisbeth halted in her pursuit, and lowered her blaster pistol to aim right at the stalled smuggler.

Finally, the tiny girl shared her thoughts. "Asuna is my friend...I don't remember her...or any of my thoughts in the real world, but I know I love her deep down...I love you too...and Kirito, and the others...we need to atop fighting, and put this war aside."

Lisbeth rolled her eyes, and switched over to her flamethrower again. "Give me a break...just hold still and shut up for a little bit while I..."

"AGH!" The Scoundrel Smuggler girl shot several large thermal detonators up into the air, each marked by some different color. She then hit a button on her wrist and cloaked away into a mysterious haze of blue.

Lisbeth flew through the barrage of falling bombs, but one hit the right engine in her jet back, and forced her to take the machine of before catching on fire and exploding into the wall. She held her guns high in the air, then switched on her night vision to better see in the dark of the hallway.

"That little..."

A small fist came out of nowhere, and slammed into Lisbeth's left cheek. She almost dropped her guns, then nearly took a second hit from the right before blocking with the armored hand, and slamming her own fist into the now vision Silica.

The shorter girl took the hit right in the face, and tried staying on her feet as she shot another bomb out from her side that released thick green smoke around the field. This was her opportunity to roll out of harm's way yet again, and try to come around for another sneak attack.

Lisbeth just signed, and turned on her helmet's internal targeting computer as she powered on another wrist rocket, reserved for the galaxy's most annoying smuggler behind Klein.

"I can't take this anymore...Lusac promised me big bucks for this mission, but I just can't..." She yelled to herself in anger as the smoke started to clear. "No reward is worth this!"

* * *

Klein was twirling through the stars above Dromund Kaas, and every turn that he made was still only in vein as the excellent Imperial Pilot flying the Phantom starship in front of him managed to avoid every shot he sent her way.

Argo snickered to herself as she tried to set a new course around the field. "Klein's supposed to be their best pilot, and I haven't flown through a dogfight since the attack on Alderaan!"

Klein spun through the debris of one of his side's own cruisers as Argo made him weave through a dangerous bit of space just to claim his prize. He shot out a new set of ion torpedoes, but the Agent of the Empire zigzagged away from both of them, and easily twirled out of range from the blaster shots that followed after.

Klein was starting to lose his patience. He was going so hot in his chase for Argo's shuttle, that he never noticed what she doing during the entire flight.

The Imperial Agent was shooting off dormant proton canisters all around the flagship _Rath._ All she needed to do now as fly away from the expected blast radius, and take the shields down for the Republic's primary vessel.

"Red Leader, do you copy?! KLEIN! Do you copy?!"

Klein switched on his comms. Link again, and spoke into the mic. "Command, this is Red Leader! What do ya what? I'mma little busy here!"

Chrysheight yelled over to his subordinate as he looked outside at the hull his endangered flagship. "That fighter your following is dropping photon bombs all over out ship. She's going to blow us sky high if you don't take her down before ignition!"

"AGh, what!?" Klein looked out his window, and noticed tiny flashing blue specks dotted all around the flagship. He yelled away from the microphone, and turned back to address the admiral. "That'll take out the shields and leave you guys wide open!"

Chrysheight nodded, and turned toward the center of the bay window. "You need to keep up the pursuit, but shoot at her ship on the open space side. We're going to take our cruiser into challenge the Space Station. Even if we manage to get blasted by those bombs, it'll be okay. We'll try to take their command station's shields out with our own hull by crashing into them if we start to go down."

"I guess that's an okay back up plan. It might draw the _Rosario_ down to the party too...but I got a better idea..."

Klein slammed on the thrusters to his _Salamander's_ engines, and darted forward in a righteous fury toward the back of the _Informant_.

"How about I just blow this up and we all go home!" His fighter bullets were shooting a red frenzy all around Argo's hull, but nothing was landing as the Imperial Agent continued to spiral her flight path around the bullet's barrage. This left her open to drop more and more photon bombs down on the surface of the _Rath_. Klein did manage to shoot some of these down, but more were escaping his shot as the flagship's shields began dwindling by the second.

"I can't hit her!" Klein yelled out to himself, trying to keep his wits about him. "At this rate I'll just be hitting my own ship's hull with my..."

Then a light clicked in his head. He realized that if Chrysheight was so comfortable with using the _Rath_ as a giant battering ram to take out the space station, then letting Argo take a few shots at their shields really meant nothing. What did matter to Chrysheight, and now Klein, was taking out the Imperial's command station.

He quickly grinned to himself, and stopped firing at Argo. She turned her view to her rear radar, and let one of her eyebrows float upward in curiosity as she stopped firing her bombs for a moment. "Is he giving up? Kind of an odd time to let me take the win..." She then noticed his _Salamander_ turn full-speed toward the command station, which caused her eyes to double in size as she tried scrambling her engines into reverse.

"He's going for our main command bridge!" Argo knew if Klein and all the other fighters were being ordered to attack the Imperial space station at all costs, then bombing the _Rath_ with her photon bombs was a waste of time. She also knew that if her team's command station went down, then they would no longer be able to call in any more reinforcements to keep them afloat in this battle. Thus, she turned on her high-powered engines and flew right for her own command ship in hot pursuit of Klein's smuggler vessel.

However, just as she noticed Klein's ship pass over the command bridge to the space station, it curved upward at a violent speed, and U-turned to point in her direction. The last thing she saw was Klein laying out all the ammunition in his laser canons, sending every shot right at Argo's now exposed ship flying right behind him.

"All too easy." Captain Klein of the _Salamander_ muttered to himself as the _Informant_ and it's rambunctious pilot, Argo, lit up in flames as it crashed into the bay window of the space station's command center. "All too easy."

* * *

Meanwhile, Agil was down inside the Sith Space Station with his blue lightsaber up deflecting shots from auto-turrets scattered throughout the base. He occasionally ran into NPC imperials trying to stop his descent, and even more rarely found a few enemy player characters defending command stations, who put up an even more impressive fight.

The Jedi Guardian stopped to channel the Force, and felt his surroundings as he scanned the space port's map for the missing sniper, Sinon. Finally, he made his way to another set of blast doors, and rolled his eyes.

"This again? When is she going to learn..." He stuck the tip of his blue light saber through the door's metal face, and slowly but surely cut a large enough hole for his body to fit through, and quickly found out it was large enough for Sinon to light up with return fire from the other side.

Agil had pressed the slab of door that he cut out through to the other side, and now picked it up with levitation, and tossed it forward to a wall of Sith troopers. Sinon rolled away, but most of her imperial allies managed to get smashed by the large hunk of metal.

Agil came through, and rolled out to the center of the room, quickly realizing as he stood up, that he was now surrounded by a new wave of troops led by Admiral Sinon.

"Hello there!" Agil remained tall, and held a sturdy smile as his blue lightsaber was kept parallel to his body. "Nice place you got here, Admiral Sinon."

"General Agil." Sinon spoke slowly as the scope of her rifle lined up with her right eye. "You are a bold one...how do you know my name?"

"Sinon?" Agil asked her back. "Kirito told me. Haven't you been paying any attention this whole time. We're all friends IRL! How weird is it that you, me, Klein, and Lisbeth knew each other from that battle on Coruscant! Kirito and Master Leafa know us from the outside world too!"

"And Lady Asuna..." Sinon sounded more annoyed as he explained the situation to her. "And that little smuggler, Silica. We're all best friends in the real world, and go on many adventures in many different games."

Agil was outnumbered, but easily held the situation in his hands. "Well, from what I barely remember I really only play ALO, now. I tried that Ordinal Scale when it was hot on the market, and I've kind of gotten into GGO with the rest of you, but man, that one really is your world. I hear you're like a super star in that one! Kirito told us all about it!"

"I have no idea what game you're talking about..." She looked away from the scope on her rifle, and stared at him through her Mandalorian visor. "I only remember ALO, and a little from that Augma game...you all met in something called SAO."

"I guess...but that's the one I have trouble with." Agil scratched his head. "Kirito thinks the memories from the games we played the most are the weakest. Asuna remembered ALO and GGO, but not SAO. Leafa had no idea what ALO was, but she was the one who got us all into it!"

"Right, and Kirito remembers it all." Sinon went back to aiming through her lens. "How fun for him."

"Come on, now you sound like the rest of them...you know, Kirito said you two are very close. He said he met you in GGO when he first used a lightsaber in the virtual world."

"Kirito met me in another game that had light sabers?" Sinon gasped, and slightly wanted to hear more. The other players around them were starting to grow confused, but stayed focused for the sake of their admiral.

Agil laughed, and noticed they practically had the whole room to themselves. "Well, I guess they call 'em photon-swords over there. Some copy-right thing...he said he saved your life."

"..." Sinon was speechless. Kirito, the mysterious boy that scared her back on Coruscant, and the boy who nearly turned Asuna to the light? _HE_ saved her own life in some other world. "What game was that? In GGO?"

"You worked together in GGO...he saved your life in the real world...it was your actual life that was in danger."

Sinon's breathing stopped, and as a faint memory from a distant game and land came in and out of her mind, she yelled and shot the wall behind Agil's head, cocking her gun once more and aiming it at his forehead.

"You can't use your Jedi mind tricks on me! I already showed you they don't work!"

"You're right..." Agil smiled, and gave his blue lightsaber a twirl while he raised his left hand up toward the far blast door on the other side of the chamber. "But maybe I am tricking you now in some other way?"

The door was now unlocked, and a swarm of Jedi Knights and Republic commandos plowed through the command bridge, and engaged the Sith and Imperial forces in an all-out war. Agil blocked her shot, then raced ahead to take her out before the next shot.

Sinon slid away, and tossed a small round droid into the crowd of Republic troopers. It came to life, and started zapping them in the middle of all their fights. She also pulled out a large, double-sided knife powered with a purple power cell to hit Agil's lightsaber attack away, and stood up to deploy her small red personal shield.

Then, she hit a booster, and displayed a large red protective orb around the entire Sith command crew and pilot staff, to protect them from the fighting going on at the other side of the room. Agil jumped forward, and threw on his own blue force field as he ran forward taking easy hits to chase down the admiral sniper.

She took several shots at him, but the man's lightsaber skills were too fast for her to hit skin. Her ultimate move was an Orbital Strike used to take out multiple foes at once, but being _inside_ the Sith Fleet instead of underneath it, that tactic would fail her here if tried indoors.

Agil, therefore, had no hard time taking out the small shield keeping him from Sinon, and disabled it with two swift strokes. He took her shot to the shoulder as a sacrifice, and picked her up with the Force to bring her over in his area.

Agil respected the girl, but knew she was too dangerous to be kept alive. He drew his blade closer to take her life, until a large Imperial X-70B Phantom starship crashed through the high command's blast window in the center of the Space station. The explosion killed all who were near it with the fiery impact alone, and the blast affected the large battle on the other side of the room quite a lot, scattering all players there out into the halls.

Sinon coughed up some smoke as she leaned forward to gather what had happened. Red warning lights had just activated, and before any poor stragglers were sucked into the deepness of virtual space, emergency windows came closed where the glass bay window once resided.

She looked around in a panicked frenzy as the command station for the Sith defense was coming down, but heard a familiar voice yelling to her side.

"Sinon...! I can't...!"

She looked to find the pilot of the defeated starship, Argo, was trapped under a large piece of debris. The Imperial agent had no way of getting out, even when Sinon rushed over to rescue her.

"I can't move it...it's too heavy!" Sinon tried to reason with her ally, but the dusty blonde Operative slowly raised her hand, and pointed to the other side of the crash.

"Forget me...kill the Jedi!"

Sinon turned, and noticed Agil was also trapped under the rubble. He was clawing at the air with one of his arms, and even when he tried to move the rubble off his body, it was wedged into the room too far in to be shoved so easily. He could wiggle it with the Force, but the crushing weight from the debris made him weaker by the second.

He looked up, and saw Sinon's pleading eyes, and then noticed the piece holding Argo down was much smaller than his. The Jedi only had one hand free, but smiled as he gave the sniper a silent nod, and raised his hand forward.

"Stop!" Sinon had her gun out, but put it away as she cried out to the rogue Jedi. "STOP IT! You're the enemy! Don't help a fallen Imperial when you're in the middle of a battle!"

Agil kept his eyes closed, and just with his final breath, he spoke a lasting sentence.

"Sinon...I'm only trying to help my friends escape... now go!"

He tossed the large metal sheet over Argo out of the way, and collapsed to the ground. Sinon quickly picked up her fallen friend, and made way for the exit before the entire space station came crumbling down.

Agil had no strength to move his head, but still heard the comms link that was placed in his ear from the space battle.

"YAHOO! Command this is Red Leader: The Phantom is down and the threat of the space station has been neutralized! Start you assault on the _Rosario!_ "

Chrysheight howled with laughter at Klein's call, and carried out his next order. "Excellent work! The _Mother's Rosario_ has depleted her shields, and is losing engine power quickly. I'd say this is a job well done for the Republic."

"Good job guys..." Agil whispered to himself as the last bits of breath left his body. "...even you, Klein."

* * *

Back to Silica and Lisbeth, the angry Bounty Hunter now had to pursue her scurrying prey on foot, and with that in mind, the sinister Power Tech started programming all her wrist equipment to power on the moment she raised her arm.

"When I find this little...urghhh there's gonna be hell to pay!" She stopped through the dark of the man-made cave, and traced her own steps back to the lab room to scan the boxes and lab equipment for Silica. What she did not expect to see was a blaster bolt shoot right for her chest. Just at the last second though, she blocked the shot reflexively with her left arm, damaging her flamethrower, but saving her life.

She raised her left pistol to the source of the shot and saw Silica crying beside the large Shock Drum, who had managed to switch over the active function thanks to Lisbeth's handy-work, and was ready to power the shock waves on at a single press of a button.

"We are not enemies." Silica demanded with tears now streaming down her face. "We are friends. I believe Kirito, and Klein, and that weird Chrysheight...we are all friends in some other universe."

Lisbeth kept her gun raised, and shouted back to her enemy. "I don't care what world we're all friends in! WE'RE STILL TRAPPED IN THIS WORLD! As far as I can see, we're all reds and blues...except that idiot Kirito."

Silica cracked a tiny smile through her sobbing face. "You love him...in the real world...or at least you have a tiny crush on him."

"SAY WHAAAAT!?" Lisbeth's wrist rocket in her right hand prematurely shot into the ceiling, rattling both girls around, and forcing Lisbeth to now aim two weapons at the little girl's head. "Say that again! I dare you!"

Silica sighed. "I'm not sure if it's true, it's just an observation he made in the real world...he said he thinks I have a crush on him too. That's why you and I bond with one another so much."

"I don't believe this..." Lisbeth's anger was swelling, and her heart was beating faster while Silica carried on.

"But we don't let it ruin our friendship with him, or Asuna. He said we're all super close. You used to be a blacksmith in SAO, and you made weapons personally for Asuna."

"I...?" Lisbeth's tongue was tying up, and her hands were starting to lower a bit as she tried to collect her thoughts. "Hold on...so Asuna and I are really that close out there too?"

"Mhmm!" She tried nodding through all her emotions. "If you can believe what Kirito says! I'd just...I'd like to get out of this game already, and see it all for myself..."

Lisbeth held her guns high again, and looked Silica in the face with confused eyes, finally she closed them, and cracked a grin.

 _*BANG*_

She moved the blaster barrel away from Silica, and hit the machine to turn off the Shock Drum once and for all. Silica could not believe that Lisbeth blew up their only hope for victory, until Lisbeth removed her helmet, and delivered her original smile to a friend from back home.

"If you have so much faith in Kirito, then, I guess we won't be needing that thing to win this war after all."

* * *

 **So this chapter was mainly there to focus on the supporting friend cast. Was the plan always to let some goofy machine take down the mighty Emperor of the Sith? Of course not! Let the Hero take the win!  
**

 **But now we have to check in on the hero and his broken family...**

 **Until Next time!**


	38. 37: Bringing Balance to the Force

**Author's Note: 47 is here. The hero is beaten. What will our daunting Sith Lord Asuna do now in the wake of her victory?**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Seven - Bringing Balance to the Force

* * *

Asuna's knees almost fell to the ground. Her face was even more pale than before, and her eyes were so wide the yellow on their edges was now trimmed with white.

Yui's hologram did manage to collapse to the ground, and started to wipe away a small tear from her eye. "Mommy...you remember me?"

"No..." Asuna admitted through her slightly mechanical voice. "I don't know your face...I know your voice. You were in a vision I had with Kirito on top of a mountain..."

Yui wanted to smile, but still showed confusion after watching her surrogate father die before her eyes. "I'm...I'm your daughter...with you and daddy. You found me in SAO, and adopted me as your daughter."

"You're virtual...and we adopted you from a virtual world?" Asuna's mind had no way of fully wrapping all of this up. She tried to grasp on to anything she could. "H-How could I hear you in the real world...in my dream from..."

"Mommy." Yui stopped Asuna, and looked the conflicted Lord of the Sith right in her evil eyes. "You're their only hope now...you're the only hope of getting everyone out of this world."

"Me?" She almost shouted back. "Why am I the only hope?"

Yui went to say more, but suddenly the T7-UE unit that projected the holographic girl smashed inward like an aluminum can getting smashed by a hand. Parts went everywhere, and the little girl only had time for one last plea.

"MOMMY!" She cried with tears running down her face. "PLEASE! SAVE DADDY'S LIFE!"

Asuna took several loud breaths, and slowly turned to find Lusac had finally stood from his chair, and looked down to see her victory. He stayed at the top of the steps, but yelled down to his victorious acolyte, and raised his arms in celebration.

"Darth Rosario! You conquered your greatest enemy, and defeated my father's weapon, Kazuto Kirigaya! You will forever be known as the greatest Hero the Sith Empire has ever seen!"

"Why did you do that?" Asuna's conflicted eyes started to draw water, and her shoulders squared up with the looming Sith Emperor standing high above. "She said she was my daughter!"

"I know..." Lusac told her with foresight. "I saw her coming, and was hoping she'd send Kirito off balance. Luckily, she didn't need to, because you had already done that yourself!"

He lowered his arms, and gave one final command to his dark apprentice. "Now, fulfill your destiny. The boy is still alive. Strike him down once and for all, and help me defeat my father and claim this world as Master and Apprentice."

Asuna glanced over at the fallen body of Kirito, and noticed despite the wound she inflicted inside his chest, the strong Force-wielder continue to breathe.

She turned back to her Master. "Why did you take me?"

Lusac's eyebrow raised, and he looked down with a stern expression as Asuna tried to repeat herself.

"Why did you make me join the Sith faction? I don't ever remember logging into this game. Why did you choose me as your apprentice?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Lusac tried to sway her mind. "Because of your potential. I wanted it on my side, not my sister's!"

"Your best friend was the lead combat developer of this game. Your father hand-picked Kirito to be his successor to this game. Why did you pick me of all the people in the world to take under your wing?"

Lusac was no longer amused. He put a hand on his belt, covering a dark black metal lightsaber hilt, and stared down at his disobedient side kick.

"You are becoming unbalanced. Kill the boy, and end this once and for all."

Asuna violently ripped off the life support metal from her chest and neck and tossed it to her side. Her skin was sill pale, but apart from a little scarring underneath her chin and around her collarbone, her original face had impressively stayed in-tact.

"I'll kill myself right here if you don't start talking. I won't let you keep me alive and trapped in this game if you don't tell me why I'm here in the first place!"

Lusac sent a small cloud of Sith lightning underneath his feet. It trickled down the steps of the throne's plinth, but dissipated once it reached Asuna's position. He looked down at his apprentice with angry red eyes, and gave her his rage.

"I am your Emperor. You are mine. Do as I say, and kill the boy, Kirito."

"I am not yours." Asuna dropped her curved lightsaber, and stood her ground defiantly. "I am not your plaything...some puppet to use however you'd like. I've done too many terrible things in your name...but it all ends now."

"SILENCE!" He shouted off with a violent energy from the Dark Side, and allowed a small black cloud to swell over his mighty head. His eyes were shining like rubies now from where Asuna was standing, and quickly enough, he made one step forward to shout off his orders.

"You are mine. All mine. You are Sith."

Asuna never blinked, and stared this horrible menace down with all the energy she had left in her bones. Kirito had fought the controlling belief of the light side for the entire game, and challenged all players who tried to call him a hero, or a pure Jedi.

Now, in this moment, Asuna had a similar strategy come to mind.

She raised her hand, and pulled a fallen lightsaber from Kirito's side with the Force. Powering it on to its totally brilliant form, the mint green light pierced through the rest of the darkened room, and stood as a beacon in the hands of its new owner.

"I am no Sith." Asuna made her declaration, and stood ready for whatever fate awaited her then.

Emperor Lusac's eyes were split wide open now with uncontrolled anger. He grabbed the saber at his belt, and powered on a totally black lightsaber blade outline with a small film of white, and delivered a twirl before meeting his former apprentice down at her level.

"So be it. You will die, either way."

Lusac jumped from the tall steps at the end of his throne room, and leaped out toward his disgraceful apprentice in rage. He was trailed by a large cloud of black smoke, and several streaks of white lightning.

Asuna jumped high in the air, and propelled herself forward to meet the enemy head on. Her new mint green lightsaber rang against the unique blacksaber that was held by the Sith Emperor, and they both fell to the floor of the hall as they hacked and slashed at one another to try and earn and edge in the fight.

Lady Rose switched back and forth from using one and two hands. As she tried to lean in for an attack, her left hand would go out to her side, and her stance would mimic the legendary "Lightning Flash" of Sword Art Online as she jabbed at Lusac like a world class fencer competing in the Olympic Games. However, this was the mightiest foe she had ever faced, and when leaning back to take a more defensive posture, her left hand would come back in to support her right, and both were used to hold the now straight-hilt saber dropped by her beloved Kirito.

To be clear, Asuna still did not remember the face or name of Kirito from the real world, or from SAO, or from anywhere else in existence. She only knew him from her time spent in the Old Republic Online, and from everything she had heard from both him and others. Her thoughts of Yui were the same, only they meant even less because that purple hologram projected by the bizarre T7 unit was the first time she ever laid eyes on her incorporeal daughter.

But both of their souls, their eyes, their emotion. They both clearly meant something to Asuna. Moments ago, without blinking, she tore off her only life support for her injured respiratory system, and tossed the metal scraps aside to combat the true Dark Lord of the Sith. She then picked up the fallen Jedi blade of Kirito, the boy in grey, and challenged Emperor Lusac to a duel for the ages.

Asuna stepped forward, and spun around rapidly to deliver three piercing jabs at the center of Lusac, but the employee of _Immortal Gaming_ was so swift with his skills, he dodged all, and lunged forward to confront her with his own blade.

"Agh! It seems I trained you well…my dear apprentice. You could have made out to be the greatest Sith player the game had to offer!"

"Urgh!" Asuna's back was straining backwards as her arms were about to give out from holding out to his immense strength. Their blades were locked together, and the Sith Lord was slowly leaning over the weakening girl. "Stop acting like this world is real! This is only a game! All of your players have figured that out! Even the ones using the Holocrons!"

"This world is no longer a reality when I SAY it's no longer a reality! I have full power and dominion over this galaxy! All one thousand units logged in using my father's Holocrons will bend to my will! I will be their ruler!"

"That's what I can't allow to happen!" Asuna broke her block, and slid out of the way as Lusac almost tumbled forward. She brought her blade up to swat at him from behind, and the powerful Emperor telepathically grabbed her neck by the Force, and tossed her into the towering staircase.

Lusac stood back at the center of the room, then whipped his hands around to summon all the blue fiery beacons from around his throne, and created a giant stream of hot white and blue flames. The fire that ran down at Asuna like a serpent came at a quickening speed, and forced her to roll out of the way several times to avoid getting hit.

She held her hand straight over her head, and caught the front of the fire trail as it came down to engulf her, and as she closed her fist, the front of the hellish band of flames bent to her will. She tossed the column over to her former master, but all he had to do was hold his hand out to have it fade away.

Now it was quite dark in the Imperial throne room. Asuna's teal green lightsaber was the brightest thing remaining, with the exception of a few soft yellow torches on the outer walls, and the small white film surrounding Lusac's black lightsaber blade.

He changed that fact quickly, and sent a stream of white Force electricity at Asuna's chest. She held her saber down, and shot her own streak of purple lightning at the attack, and both met in the middle with a horrible screeching sound that nearly shook the building to the ground. Asuna was growing deaf from the horrible noise, and screamed through her defense as Lusac laughed maniacally from the other side. He pushed his arm forward, and cut off his stream of energy, running at her while also raising his saber over his head.

Asuna caught the electric flow with her off hand as it came racing her way, and shot both purple and white power back at the menace. Lusac kept running for her at break neck speed, but suddenly split his body into two clones mimicking the exact same move.

This happened again, and again until there were now eight full copies of Emperor Lusac surrounding the confused rogue Sith Lord. Asuna held both hands on her blade, and took several deep breaths that her damaged windpipe barely allowed her to have.

Asuna stood still, and concentrated on all eight figures for a brief moment. Simultaneously, they all spoke to her at once.

"Give yourself to the Dark Side, and kneel to me now!"

Asuna raised her hand over her head, and shot a large volt of Sith energy high in the air. A purple cloud of Sith lightning shot out, and eight bolts of electricity rained down on the phantom figures of the Sith Emperor. Seven of the shadows faded into nothing, but one to her right ran forward with his saber held like a katana.

Asuna brought her blade out like a knight's longsword, and beat his weapon aside, catching it again with a second slash from Lusac as they now inter-locked in an epic sword duel once again. Black and green sparks flew into the darkness around them as they danced around in a waltz of evil energy, rage filling both their veins, and fueling their hearts more than the air in their lungs.

"You see?" Artificial shadow was swarming Lusac's body as he now threatened the space around Asuna. When it combined with the natural darkness left in the room, it nearly made the scene pitch black for the young girl's wavering eyes. "You say you're not Sith, but you always fall back into the path of wrath and anger. Kazuto Kirigaya was such a unique fighter. He could sway between patience and anger no matter the scene, and still return to a balanced state."

He pressed forward with his blacksaber, and marched Asuna into a wall on the edge of the room. "Unlike you. All you know is the ways of the Dark Side…the ways that I have taught you."

Asuna could feel her arms starting to bend, and was worried that her strength would give out at any second. She felt tears of pain forming under her eyelids, and tried to rally her last remaining strength to challenge her foe.

"I know more than hate! Kirito said it himself…I'm not like the other Sith!"

"Quite right!" Lusac gave her enough, and jumped back to create distance between them as he continued his bizarre monologue. "You are the most unique Sith player in this game. Even standing beside me, the Emperor. You played the path of the Sith Warrior, but can channel such powerful swells of the Dark Side to summon lightning energy, a talent only bestowed to Sith Inquisitors in this game. You also hold no sub-class, and have found a way to blend all four Sith play styles to your whim and command."

Lusac held his blade down, and looked at her with his burning ruby eyes. "Asuna, the reason that you're the most powerful Sith player in my ranks, is because I combined all four Sith playable classes, and put them all into your character design."

"No…" Asuna had no idea how she never noticed, but for the entire game, she had managed to channel all the different types of attacks from both Sith Warriors, and the Sith Inquisitors. Even their subclasses. "That's insane! Why would you try to control me like that!?"

"Search your feelings, you know it to be true!" He mocked her with the famous line, and tried to voice his emotions. "Trentyn played as a duel-wielding Sith Marauder. I hold the title of a legendary Sith Sorcerer, although I have the power of the admin on my side, so I find ways to cheat now and then…even Kirito had to check in at a Republic space station to claim his package for a sub-class play-style to earn his duel-wielding capabilities. You are the only player in the game who truly played to your own free will…the free will of your dark, twisted heart. I was the one who gave you that power…you should be happy!"

"I've heard enough from you!" Asuna jumped into the air, but saw Lusac hurl a large cloud of black Sith smoke at her with both of his hands. Instantly, she fell to the ground, and tried to fight off the swarming Sith shadows that enveloped her to the floor.

"What is this? It's pure darkness?!"

"If you truly say that your heart is free from the Dark, then I'll just have to change that…hehehe." Lusac raised his hands, and began flooding the entire massive throne room with the putrid Sith smoke and shadow. The murky, thick haze of evil clawed its way through every inch of space in the arena, and Asuna only remained as a single hand outstretched toward Lusac, grasping for anything it could find.

"AGH!"

Then, he could hear her screaming with a resounding tone, and noticed a small purple light coming from her body. Waves of Sith electrical energy pulsated through the black streaking shadows, and soon Asuna was fighting off the evil energy with the own strength in her hands.

Quickly, the purple Sith lightning charging out of Asuna's hands turned to a sharp, scarlet red color, and this new energy became a new light in the empty void of total darkness that Lusac tried to create. She threw both hands to her side, and cleared the entire room of the thick black smoke with a pulsing rage of raw lightning from the Force.

Lusac looked appalled, and quickly changed to looking angry as Asuna simply collected her energy after the attack, and lowered her head to mediate her thoughts. He yelled at the top of his lungs, and charged for his feeble enemy with his blade sticking forward, but all Asuna did, was look up, and open her eyes.

Emperor Lusac froze in mid stride, while Asuna took a long, deep breath to collect her energy again. Then, the former wife of Kazuto Kirigaya drew the mint green light saber that had fallen from her beloved's arms.

"I will not defeat you with rage or anger. Only patience…patience, and the will of the Force."

Asuna ran forward, and cut Lusac's torso clean in half, unfreezing him from his stance, and allowing him to cry out in pain and defeat as he rolled along his own royal floor in a truly pathetic fashion.

"Agh…AGH! I can't…I can't believe it…did I lose?"

Asuna knelt down, and turned her lightsaber off as she grabbed him by the neck of his tunic. She pulled his upper half to her, and looked him in the eyes as hers faded back to a lighter shade of yellow.

"Not yet. I want you to tell me why you chose me as your apprentice. What was your plan at the end of all of this mayhem?!"

Emperor Lusac slowly shriveled into the pathetic boy, Luke Mathis once again as his eyes filled with fear and confusion. "I…I know you from another world…I knew you in the real world. You never met me, but I…"

Her eyebrow raised slightly, and her tense arms lowered him a bit back to the ground as Lucas carried on.

"I know your father…he got me my first job with his company, and I worked with Suguo Nobuyuki…the man that trapped hundreds of people into an illegal mind control state for the purpose of research. I helped him…try to take your mind before, in a game called ALfheim Online. He was trying to marry you, and take you as his, but when I saw you in that game, and then in the real world…I just wanted to…I needed to see you again…"

"Why?" Asuna's skin started to tingle as the hood slipped off the man's pale head, revealing a youthful, malnourished face of a boy in his mid-twenties. His hair was short and black, his eyes were fading from red to black, and his skin was returning to a color more normal for the real world.

Finally, Luke Mathis let a tear roll down his mighty, imperial face.

"I…I fell in love with you the moment I laid eyes on you Asuna. I wanted you to be mine."

He picked up the fallen black saber that he dropped after his defeat, and powered it on to cram the ignited black blade through his heart, and then dropped back in his final moments of death. Asuna sighed, and dropped his body calmly as she stood up and retrieved her own lightsaber handle, and his as well.

The Sith Lord turned to the Light made her way back to the entrance of the throne room, scooping Kirito's fallen body off the ground, and retrieved both of their other lightsabers as she made her way for the Emperor's personal transport. She had fulfilled her own destiny, and defeated the Dark Ruler plaguing her mind.

As her eyes fully turned back to their normal soft shade of brown and white, Asuna knew now that it was Kirito's turn. He needed to find Peter Mathis to end this war, and bring true balance to the world of the Force.

She would help him do it.

* * *

 **So Asuna conquers the psychotic Luke Mathis, and brings herself into balance. He was an employee during ALO, and tried to replicate the work of Sugou Nobuyuki, especially the bit about trying to brain wash Asuna again...eww just too creepy! I did really enjoy writing her character arc though!**

 **Kirito and Asuna are left alone, and the Republic is victorious over Dromund Kaas. Only one more obstacle left for them to get over now...**

 **Until next time!**


	39. 38: It works in mysterious ways

**Author's Note: Chapter 38 is done! Amazing what you van accomplish with self-quarantine. Don't worry I'm still getting out and exercising and stuff.**

 **Also I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Eight - It Works in Mysterious Ways

* * *

Kirito felt his body lying over a cold, hard surface as the room he was in shook softly back and forth. His eyes slowly opened revealing a dim amount of light in the room around him. He went to cover the shining light overhead that was piercing his weak eyes, but noticed as his right hand moved over his head, he had lost all the feeling in the skin.

This was probably because his hand was now robotic. A cybernetic appendage created in the world of Star Wars used to replace his maimed hand from the fight with Darth Rosario. The skin was removed, only revealing a skeletal prosthetic limb that moved its fingers just like a real hand.

Kirito studied the odd new addition to his arm under the light of the dark grey room, but stopped looking over his hand once a voice on the other side of the barracks spoke up.

"That was the first time I've helped someone apply a cyborg hand…I guess I'm pretty familiar with the feeling now." Asuna Yuuki sat on a stool a little ways from the medical bed that kept Kirito relaxed. She held out her gloved right hand, and removed the article of clothing that concealed her own metallic arm for him to see.

Kirito glanced at his hand, then at hers. Then, his eyes traveled across her body, and noticed she was now wearing a different styled outfit. Simple light grey robes, with slim black pants. A belt cinched her cotton tunic together, and the sleeves were absent, leaving her arms bare. Her boots were very small and black, and her auburn hair was tied up to her head, similar to how she used to wear it in GGO.

Her curved lightsaber hung from her waist, but that was only the second shiniest thing about her calm personality. Her eyes, her sweet brown eyes that he remembered looking into during his fight through Aincrad, were now wide and glossy as usual.

The Asuna he knew may have still been missing her mind and memories, but on the outside, she was back.

"Asuna." Kirito sat up, and slid backward to bring his sitting body to a right angle. He used his left hand to find the hole in his chest, but found it was now patched and bandaged all underneath his still grey combat outfit.

"Kirito…I…" Asuna turned away from her old friend, and looked at the ground. Her eyes looked dark, and her face seemed sorry. "Lucas destroyed Yui. I'm not sure what happened to her after that."

"She'll be fine…" Kirito pulled his legs over the side of the bed, and sat on the edge of the hard sheet of metal. "I'll reset her program on my home computer when we get out of this game. That should set her back to normal."

"When we get out…right." Asuna nodded, and brought one hand over to rub her right shoulder.

Kirito let a small smile take his face as he looked at the confused girl. "You look a lot better, Asuna. Your eyes are back to normal."

Asuna silently nodded, and beamed at her former ally. "I feel a lot better too…it's like a giant cloud just lifted itself out of my head and off of my shoulders. My breathing is a little weak, but I feel much calmer now."

He was happy to hear that. It was one step closer to the Asuna he met in SAO. "And your memories? Are they all back?"

She shook her head. "All of your Republic friends had their memories wiped but felt no mind control. I think it's safe to say that I'm in that boat now too. It's like a giant chunk of my brain is missing, but I'm a lot les angry at everything."

Kirito shuttered at that thought while he thought back to the incident with _Ordinal Scale_ and the Augma not to long ago. Asuna had her memory stolen from SAO then too, only now it was a lot heavier than that.

He took the lightsaber sitting off the right side of his belt, and took it in his left hand. It immediately powered onto the mint-green blade. It was still the same lightsaber given to him by Amanda Lucas. He then located a newer, slicker weapon to his left belt, quickly grabbing it with his lead right hand. It powered on to show him the silky black and white-edge blade dropped by the defeated Luke Mathis after his confrontation with Asuna.

Kirito looked at the two colors again, and sighed with a smile. "Well that's pretty funny…they remind me of the _Elucidator_ and _Dark Repulser_ swords I used to wield in SAO. Same colors and everything."

Asuna had no idea what he was talking about, but she smiled for Kirito in support nonetheless. "And what about the sword I used in SAO? I heard I favored rapiers?"

Kirito answered. "Yea, your one-handed lightsaber handle is perfect for your combat style. Your sword wasn't red though, like a Sith lightsaber. It was plane silver with a green-ish hilt for a handle."

She nodded, but he was not done explaining. "Well, I guess the sheath for your sword was like a soft red, almost like a pink and red combined! Its name was _Lambent Light_ , I think?"

"Lambent Light?" She repeated to herself, almost letting the words fly off her tongue and lift up her spirits. She smiled, and pulled out her curved-hilt saber, powering on the new soft magenta blade. Its color almost matched the description Kirito gave her, and with that she delivered an even brighter beaming smile than before.

"Well I guess this will have to do! It's from the crystal I found on Ilum. I just had it changed after we left Kaas City."

Kirito wanted to celebrate her new lightsaber color, but just barely caught the last part of her words. "Wait hold on, we left Kaas City?"

Asuna nodded, and her smile quickly faded as Kirito started to stand from his bed. "Is that okay? Hold on, you'll fall if you're not careful!"

Kirito was find to stand, but he accepted her help anyway. They walked into the cockpit of the Sith Fury starship, and discovered the vessel was still soaring through Hyperspace.

Kirito's moth was agape with confusion, and his arm was hanging over Asuna's shoulders. Asuna tried to explain, and kept her arm underneath his arms at his waist. "We left Dromund Kaas right after I defeated the Emperor. I entered the space above the planet and the Republic had just finished taking out our Command Space Station and my old flagship…the _Mother's Rosario_ was in flames by the time we passed by. I set a course for the Unknown Regions of space immediately before your friends mistook us for a fleeing enemy. I've never entered hyper drive calculations faster in my life!"

Kirito leaned back in the pilot's chair and let the autopilot continue its charter through space. Asuna sat up in the co-pilot's chair, and kept her hands softly on her knees. They sat in the quiet room for a short while making no noises, until the rogue Jedi spoke his mind.

"So what was Lusac's motive? Did he want total control of a Star Wars galaxy? Was he trying to make a mindless army of drones to serve him in the real world?"

Asuna tensed up, and fleet her knees buckle together as her head lowered slightly in confusion. She looked to the ground, and spoke.

"He wanted me. He said he made me his apprentice because he loved me."

Kirito sat and absorbed that fact, then rolled his eyes and smiled. "Again? Geesh, that's the second time in a year."

"Wha-!?" Asuna's face turned the same color as her new lightsaber, and she leaned back in her chair as Kirito turned to explain.

"Hold on, let me explain! I mean technically this is the second time that's happened. A guy from your father's company in the real world tried to brainwash you into becoming his fiancé. He used the game ALO to try and take control of your brain."

"Oh…" Asuna nodded. "Lusac did mention that as well...that makes me a little more uncomfortable hearing it like that though."

Kirito put his arms casually behind his head, and kicked his feet up as he shut his eyes. "Eh, you should probably take it as a compliment! All these game makers are trying to make you there's by kidnapping your mind, it'd be a little more romantic if it wasn't so creepy…"

"Exactly, you ass!" She clenched the armrests to her side, and kicked the back of his chair from her seat. "It's totally creepy! I'd prefer to have a say in when I become somebody's fiancé…"

She looked over at Kirito as he almost fell out of his seat, and her cheeks flushed with warm emotion. She settled back into the back of her chair, and sighed deeply.

"Kirito…is that what you tried doing to me…in that SAO game?"

"WHAT!?" Kirito spun his chair around, and shouted as loud as he could. "No-no! I-I never tried to force you to marry me! It was in no way near similar to that!" He tried to gather his thoughts to understand why she would ask that, and then he let out a sigh of his own.

"But I guess, from knowing that it happened to you twice, it would make sense if I did that too. Who knows…I could just be lying about it, and acting all angry to hide my real intentions?"

Asuna's eyebrow was sticking up, and then she smiled as her body leaned forward out of her chair. "Is that so? Then what am I supposed to expect when we finally get out of this game…hmm?"

Kirito leaned forward, and gave her a grin as he looked her right in the eyes. "That's something you'll have to find out. Maybe I already forced you to marry me in real life and there's nothing you can do about it."

Asuna leaned back, and closed her eyes with a bright smile, showing off the red in her cheeks and the cheer in her attitude. Kirito would never make fun of this situation with Asuna if she had her memories of her horrible past in with Suguo Nobuyuki, but in this little moment traveling between the endless void of space, he enjoyed just being playful with Asuna once again.

The young lovers were cut off once the hyperlane ended, and the blank abyss of space came into view on their windshield. They both spun around and faced the dashboard, while Asuna checked the radar at the center.

"This part of space is totally empty. Even Ilum is several parsecs away from this quadrant."

"The Unknown Regions…" Kirito felt his chest turning cold on the inside, and tried to comb the starry sky with his eyes as they scanned for any noticeable sign of life. "Asuna, what made you fly us all the way out here?"

Her eye closed, then opened as they slowly turned to face Kirito. "I wanted to find that hidden planet, Mortis. I wanted to find Peter Mathis for you, and help you defeat him in battle, and log everyone out of this wargame."

"You do?" Kirito asked idiotically. Of course, she wanted to help, after all it was still Asuna. Kirito had defeated Amanda the Grand Jedi Master, and Asuna had eradicated Lucas the Dark Lord of the Sith. It only made sense that after both turning in their light and dark trappings for all-grey robes, only after they each brought balance to both side of the war. That they would find Mortis together and take out the neutral father, Peter Mathis, once and for all.

And then, after looking into each other's eyes with determined support, they both swiveled back to find a bizarrely dark red structure floating in space. It was etched with lines like a cybernetic device, but it stood on a point, and held eight flat surfaces along all its sides.

"It's an octahedron." Kirito had a mind for these kinds for things. "It's like a 3-D diamond."

"It's a monolith…" Asuna leaned forward to try and study the structure through the glass as they slowly floated toward the dark and sinister object. She had learned of things like these with Lusac during her training. "They're Easter eggs hidden throughout the game. A structure held together by an anchorite of the living Force. A person is living inside of that thing, holding it all together."

"How do you know that?" Kirito asked with a befuddled expression on his face.

Asuna never turned to face him, and drifted slowly back into her chair as she looked down at the ship's radar. "My training with the Sith… someone's just sent out a distress signal from the inside…they're trying to seek audience with another player in the game."

"It's him." Kirito's eyes narrowed in anger, and his brow folded to show his growing rage. "Peter Mathis. It has to be him."

"Kirito…" Asuna reached over and grabbed his robotic right hand with her human left one. "We have to be careful going near these things. Once they catch you in their gravitational pull, they…"

Too late. The Sith shuttle they had borrowed from the deceased Emperor Lusac was now trapped in a mysteriously powerful gravitational field. Kirito and Asuna held each other even tighter now, and soon, the Force-sensitive couple were both bathed in a radiant, blinding white light.

* * *

"Are you sure Silica and Lisbeth are both on their way back? I can't get a hold of anyone! No Kirito, no Agil, or the other leaders."

Chrysheight argued with the ace pilot, Klein, as the smuggler gunslinger casually strolled off the exit ramp from the _Salamander_. After the Republic victory over the Sith Empire, Admiral Chrysheight lost contact with several key players on his side of the field.

Klein shrugged, and turned to look out the great bay port looking over the blue and green planet, Dromund Kaas. "Relax. Agil's probably patrolling the wreckage for surviving Jedi, Silica is probably just bringing back that Bounty Hunter Lisbeth, and Kirito's probably just...I dunno, being Kirito?"

Chrysheight raised an eyebrow, and tried to understand how a Klein with no real memory of Kirito would still say that about his best friend. The wonders of their bonds still confused the Japanese Ministry agent to this moment. He then noticed a shuttle that was assigned to Agil's blue squadron land behind the _Salamander_ , and turned to walk for the survivors.

"Just get back into the cockpit and see if you can reach Agil. Silica is probably on her way with the bounty hunter."

"Yea...I just said that." Klein went to turn back for the starship door. "Friggin' amateur..."

"Hands up, Sith! Hands where we can see 'em!"

Klein turned to look at Chrysheight, and both men ran around the _Salamander_ to the very shuttle that just made its landing. When they arrived, the Jedi admiral had drawn his blue lightsaber, while Klein managed to pull two matching blaster pistols at two bizarre faces coming out of a Republic air craft."

"No way, Argo!? You're still alive?"

Argo stood with Sinon as they both had hands in their air. She tried to keep her eyes on the floor, while Sinon's looked out at the spinning blue marble of the planet down below.

Argo mumbled. "If you're going to kill me, just get it over with. I was really an Imperial player all along, so I technically didn't betray you guys."

Klein held a gun right for her head and frowned. "You can't take my satisfaction away by acting like your life no longer matters...I've been waiting to do this."

"Hold on." Chrysheight's reached over to lower Klein's arms downward, and his right hand held his lightsaber low to the ground as he looked to his lost acquaintance, Sinon. "Shino Asada. Where did you find this shuttle?"

Sinon still looked at them with sadness in her eyes, but her head turned sharply once she heard her real-world name come from his lips. "It was left by the Republic team who infiltrated our Space Station...no one survived on your team."

Klein remembered Agil was the one who led the assault, and now held his other gun to meet Sinon in the eyes. "My friend was on board that ship. Where is he?!"

"You killed him, ass." Argo's reply was snarky, and held no satisfaction other than seeing Klein's response. "When you shot me down...my ship crashed into the command bridge and crushed Master Agil."

Klein stumbled back a few feet, and his pistols almost fell out of his hands. "No...he couldn't have died from some random ship crash like that..."

"He didn't..." Sinon wanted to explain the whole situation before Argo took any more satisfaction from the grieving Republic players. "He probably could have lifted the rubble off his body if he focused on himself...but instead he chose to rescue Argo and me with his last bit of life."

"He saved you?" Chrysheight looked shocked. "He let you escape off the ship?"

Sinon's hands lowered, and fell to her side with very little energy left in her body. "He was quite the Jedi Knight..."

"Admiral!" A command officer shouted over the intercom system inside the hanger and alerted the entire group. "Enemy shuttle has been spotted! It appears to have the same tags as the one Emperor Lusac used on Ilum."

"Asuna!" Sinon turned for the large bay opening that connected the void of space to the hanger station aboard the _Rath_. The entire group follow her, but the Republic players including Klein and Chrysheight let her run past as she stopped at the edge of the protective blast shield.

She had no idea what was coming over, some feeling that had tickled her brain ever since she entered the world of Star Wars with her friends Lisbeth and Asuna. She had chosen the path of an Imperial Officer, with a specialty in sniping, but deep down...she held a sensitivity that most gun-wielding players did not possess in this game.

"That's not Lusac, it's Asuna." Sinon blurted out to the others as they joined her in the hanger. The group stopped running, and stopped to gaze at the fleeing Sith Fury shuttle heading for open space. Klein looked around rapidly, and tried to gather who was all left in the hanger.

"Well should we send a crew to investigate!? It might be the Emperor fleeing the scene!"

"Why do you say it's Asuna, Sinon?" Chrysheight gave her his full attention, and watched as her eyes continued to track the flying aircraft even as it soared farther into the black void.

"I...I can just feel something...a connection. Asuna's on board...and somebody's with her."

"Don't shoot it!" Another voice yelled from a swarm of landing transports. At the center of the new mess was the smuggler ship _Pina_ , and running t the group on the edge of the docking back was Lisbeth and Silica with their arms waving in air.

"Kirito's on that ship! He's going to go find Peter Mathis!" Silica tried to catch her breath as they made it to the group, but found her palms grabbing onto her knees in exhaustion.

"Peter Mathis?" Chrysheight reappeared. "How do you know all of this?"

Lisbeth took over, standing equally as warn out as Silica. "We decided to leave the Shock Drum, and ran out to find Kirito and the Emperor. That's where we found Asuna loading him into Lusac's private shuttle. They're going off into deep space to see if he'll find them, or something."

Sinon's eyes grew wide, and turned to look at the Republic admiral she apparently once knew in the real world. "We can no longer help them from our position, but we can at least let them pass and give them a fighting chance."

Chrysheight found the Force to work in mysterious ways. The same being that apparently lifted Kirito and Asuna over Emperor Lusac had to be responsible for forcing Lisbeth and Silica to stop working on the Shock Drum. And if that were true, then it no doubt led Sinon toward him to halt his command to blast that fleeing Imperial Shuttle out of the sky.

"Alright then." The voice of Seijirou Kikuoka left the lips of the Chrysheight avatar as it looked out to the horizon of deep, open space. "Then all we have left is faith...Those two are our last hope."

* * *

Kirito and Asuna both woke up in the two lead chairs of the Sith Fury-class star ship. Their eyes were hazy, and their heads were heavy as they both moaned themselves awake, and stumbled to their wavering feet.

"Ugh…Kirito, are you okay?" Asuna asked with a hand over her head.

Kirito almost fell over, but caught himself barely. "I'm fine, Asuna…did we…did we just crash?"

"No, I don't think so…" Asuna gained her footing, and looked around the structure of the ship. "I don't smell any smoke, or see any fire. It looks like we landed judging by the view outside."

"Did you land the ship?" Kirito asked with a finger scratching his head. "I haven't flown a ship since I crash-landed on Korriban."

"No, I was in the co-pilot's chair…and I haven't flown since I crash-landed the _Blood Oath_ over Ilum."

Both warriors blinked, then twiddled their thumbs as Kirito decided to break the ice.

"Yea, maybe it's a good thing neither of us were flying the ship."

"Oh, stop it, we were both shot down in those situations!" Asuna pressed the bottom to open the door out of the cockpit. "Come on, let's study the surface of the planet."

Kirito followed, but remained very hesitant as he lingered his way through the blast door. "Okay…but that red monolith didn't really look like a planet to me…"

They wondered through the lush, colorful rain forest sitting outside their starship that was somehow standing in perfect condition. Large green and blue jungle trees towered over the soft, bright brown soil scattered across the landscape, each area covered by vibrant bushes and shrubbery now and again. Kirito and Asuna could hear bizarre creatures sounding off in the great distance, but both were masters of the everlasting Force now, and felt no fear when walking along this uncharted region.

This was good, because the bushes to the far left of the pathway started rumbling with great force. The warriors drew their weapons, but waited to ignite the blades of their lightsabers until they were able to confirm the mysterious predator.

Their arms went up, but when a small rodent like creature passed into the dirt-lined path, and scurried off into the section of plants to its front, the in sync warriors let out giant gasps of air, and let their shoulders sink with relief.

"We can beat an entire family of video game makers…" Kirito let out some air as he stepped forward on the road. "But we can't stand tall against some tiny little mouse-thing…"

Soon after he finished, a large ball of green and white light whizzed through the opening in the trees and grabbed Asuna by two clawed feet as it dangled her in the air on its ascent. She screamed and flailed for it to let her go, and Kirito drew his blade to try and stop in from below.

"KIRITO!" Asuna tried to reach her lightsaber, but it was trapped under the toe of the large flying beast that had her by the waist. "STOP THIS FLYING BAT-THING RIGHT NOW!"

"What are you talking about, Asuna?!" Kirito launched his black lightsaber like a boomerang buzz saw as it hacked away the top of a very tall tree, but just missed the flying bird that was leaving his sights. "It's not a bat! It's like a white griffin with an eagle's head!"

"No, it most certainly isn't! It's some creep looking black bat thing with red eyes and I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Asuna sent a volt of red Sith lightning through her hands, and shocked the flying beast so hard it dropped her into the soft tree tops below her feet. She dangled for a short while, the slipped to the forest floor to re-join her companion. Both drew their remaining lightsabers, and now stood back to back as they each scanned part of the sky for the eventual return of the malicious predator.

"Ahhahhh…hold on, you saw a giant bat? It looks like a white griffon from my point of view."

"Maybe…ahhahaa…" She exhaled and exhausted breath. "Maybe, it's some kind of glitch in the system?"

Kirito saw the bird coming around, and while Asuna instead saw the vicious black monster high-tailing it her way, the black-haired boy's vision narrowed in on the now very familiar beast taking them into its sights.

"I had to fight one of these things before. It changes between forms depending on the time of day, or sometimes the opponent. It's some type of old creature that represents a guardian of the Force."

"It must be a sort of test for you and me to stay here…a white bird for the Light Side philosophy you had to challenge all this time, and a black demon symbolizing the Dark Side and the Sith Order for me. Both of the obstacles we each had to conquer to make it here."

"That's a pretty good guess to me…" Kirito saw it approaching with a quickening speed, and lowered his center of gravity as he held both sabers down at his side.

Asuna stood with tension in her arms, and glanced over at her oddly framed partner with the side of her eyes. "So how did you beat this thing last time? Any tips?"

"Well…" Kirito gave his two sabers a twirl, and smiled plainly as he waited for the creature to making its swooping descent. "I didn't have real lightsabers before, but I killed it by doing this…!"

He jumped high in the air, almost fifty feet into the sky and a good distance above even the tallest set of trees. The beast was too distracted with Asuna that it went in to take her out, but the valiant female warrior held up her saber, and blocked its attack with a single slash upward. The monster rolled away, but as he jumped back over to take her out, Kirito slammed it from the sky, and stuck his two lightsabers deeply into its neck. Asuna slashed upward again, and took off the bottom of its loose neck now, as the head firmly ripped apart from the rest of the body, and scattered into a bloody mess into the trees.

Asuna sighed, and looked around to see if any more would come near. Then she looked at Kirito with little impression left on her from the trick move. "That was graceful, but the landing was a bit off…I don't understand what this place is. It's…"

"Unlike any other. A conduit through which the entire Force of the universe flows." Kirito put his weapons back on his belt, and looked forward through the trees at a now clear object looming in the distance. "It's the home of the natural Force, and the system's most-powerful wielder… _Mortis_."

The object that Kirito finally saw standing in the rather close distance over a fading hill of lush greens and glowing blue plants when hid in the shadows, was pearly white, and towered clear past the cloud line and into the great heavens beyond their view.

Hiding in the glossy, chromed-out palace standing in the sky, was an elderly man with a healthy head of white and grey hair. His handsome short beard matched his scalp, and his eyes were piercing blue as he looked over and out the bay window of his beautiful planet, and into a mysterious forest painting the spotted white ground below.

"Kirito has arrived." Peter Mathis could feel a great disturbance in the Force. The epic duel of his time in his very own virtual world, was quickly drawing nigh. "And this time he's brought a friend to help him."

* * *

 **So we're back on Mortis, and the final battle is upon us. Tune in tomorrow to see the results!**

 **Until then!**


	40. 39: Duel of the Fates

**Author's Note: Our long awaited meeting has come at last...Kirito and Asuna vs the Game Maker. I had to study a lot of fights in the Star Wars franchise to write this one, but based on the chapter title you can probably guess which one I followed the most.**

 **Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Nine - Duel of the Fates

* * *

Kirito had not been in this specific tower, with its vanilla white walls and polished black floors. He could see the reflection of himself and Asuna with every step that they took inside. But he knew it was similar to a place he had been before. With Kayaba, during his escape from this same strange corner of the world at the beginning of his adventure.

They were riding in an elevator. A small, dim yellow light shone on them from above, and the circular chrome wall around the room was so polished that it mimicked an image of not metal, but glass. It was a three-hundred and sixty-five-degree mirror that allowed the two balanced heroes to look at themselves on last time before reaching the top.

Both of them were patient. No words were spoken between them for the last hour or so ever since they discovered the tower looming on the horizon. They each looked forward at their own reflection, and it was finally Asuna who broke the silence first.

"Have you been here before?" She asked, looking at his eyes through the mirror.

He chose not to look back, only forward. "No, but I can feel him."

Silence again. Asuna broke it once more. "He knows you're here. I wonder if he knows I'm with you...I wonder if I'll be of any help at all."

"Asuna..." Kirito kept his eyes facing front, but grabbed her hand with his. "I'll need all the help I can get. He's the most powerful player in the game...I almost feel disgusted calling him a player at all...more like a living God."

This would not be the first human creator Kirito has faced to deem themselves as divine royalty. Even though all those past opponents had ridiculous power backing their every move, he still knew their type pretty well by now.

He also knew the power of his beloved partner. He could feel the strength in her veins, and the weakness.

"How are you feeling?" His eyes finally found hers in the glassy wall. He gave her a smile through a reflection, and held her hand tighter. "Your face looks fine after removing that breathing stuff, but are your lungs...?"

Asuna was not ready to admit her own nervous thoughts as a similar question passed through her mind ever since she defeated Lucas. She accepted his tightly gripping hand, and without another moment of hesitation, she smiled back through their reflection.

"I'll be fine. I have you to watch my back!"

The elevator stopped, and the polished doors slid open with ease as an alert noise made way for their presence. The two heroes stepped out of the pod, and looked all around them with the same awe that took their eyes in the caves of Ilum.

Unlike Ilum, however, the starry sky that they each greeted hovering above their heads was real. Or, at least as real as a night-time sky could get in the virtual world. It was still daylight on Mortis, but their elevator ride had traveled so high above the clouds and sky, that the tower they were currently in was actually touching the edge of space with its immense height.

Kirito and Asuna let go of each other's hands, and slowly charged forward onto a large metal bridge that overlooked more glass windows looking back down at the cloudy planet surface. Kirito had no idea how all of this could fit inside that small red contraption in the outer reaches of the planet, but he had played enough video games in his life to just assume master coding was responsible.

Dim yellow lights help illuminate their way down the long, expansive bridge that stretched under the great skylight of stars and glass above. Several spokes and support beams came in from the outer walls to help hold the bridge where it was, but below was a large void that ended with the bottom end of the glass sphere protecting them from the outer dangers of space. Eight guards, four on each side, stood as sentinels of the walkway, and just at the end of the path stood an ornate golden throne, similar in stature to the Imperial Throne of the Sith planet of Dromund Kaas, but equipped with a far better view of awe and grandeur.

There he stood. The man with a short head of grey hair, and an enveloping beard surrounding his entire lower face did not sit in his own throne. He was standing behind it, off to the side that looked away from the planet's curve and into the endless unknown. He never turned around, until Kirito and Asuna crossed the halfway point on the bridge, and stopped to look up at the pious ruler.

"Kazuto Kiriguya. I've been expecting you."

Kirito looked right at the golden eyes of Peter Mathis, as they towered over him from the plinth of the ominous throne. The guards around them all ignited white saber-staffs with only one blade and elongated handles, and each member of the chamber pointed their weapons at the not-so welcomed guests.

Asuna raised a hand, and sent a cloud of Sith lightning around her body and Kirito's. It surged with power as it traveled outward, and forced all eight guards to slide off the bridge, and plummet their deaths from the fall. Their bodies never reached the glassy window below before disappearing into a cloud of pixels.

The red cloud of electric energy traveled for the throne and Mathis, but dissipated as soon as it hit his space. He was not fazed by anything that just occurred, but his small smile grew larger as he turned to step in front of his golden chair.

"And you are his friend, Asuna Yuuki. I remember when you arrived in my Tokyo offices with Kirito. I must say you being here with my former apprentice is quite the surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one."

"Kirito?" Asuna's eyes grew as she turned to her right. "You trained with him?"

"No." Kirito admitted as his eyes narrowed even more. "He tried to explain the game to me, but I wasn't having any of it."

"And look how far you have come without it. I'll have to admit another factual error in my logic and say I never expected you to retain your balanced nature. The grey faction. Leaning both toward the Light, and the Dark, but never choosing a side." He then looked at Asuna. "And then to find you, the one so entangled in my son's lust for power. You were stolen by the Dark Side, and found your way to the Light all the same. I've watched this galactic game play out over the entire time, and now, I am quite happy to find you both still standing to be here."

"We didn't come here to talk." Kirito admitted with anger in his words as he grabbed his two lightsaber handles. They were left off while he continued. "We came to log our friends out of this game, and end this nonsense once and for all."

Mathis nodded, but stayed standing perfectly still as he drew his hands together. "You did come here to end this. You came to end my legacy and life. Then the two of you...together...will become the new owners of all this."

"You have children!" Asuna declared with the same level of anger that Kirito found a second ago. "Why try and give us a company when they fought so hard to win it, themselves!?"

Mathis sighed, and put his hands back behind him. "I do have children. Children who were bested by the two Heroes of Aincrad. The _Lightning Flash_ , Asuna. Grand Officer and Second-in-Command of the top guild in Sword Art Online...and The _Black Swordsman_ , Kirito. The one who defeated Akihiko Kayaba and Sugou Nobuyuki at their own games, and stopped a mass murdering lunatic, Death Gun, from rampaging through the virtual and real worlds."

He turned to look back out at the endless bay window, with all the stars surrounding their view. "I wasn't only looking for someone to find me, or for someone who could end the war, or for someone to defeat my two children and lead developers. I needed someone to bring balance to the world I created...I needed someone who could bring balance to the very Force itself. This had to happen for my one goal, the one achievement that has eluded me my entire life...I needed this Force System to help me discover the secrets of the mind and soul as they Full-Dive into a new world."

"Well, I hate to let you down, Sir." Kirito held the two handles firmly in his hands as Asuna drew hers beside him. He continued in his rant. "But Asuna and I won't be the ones to take you down. Your children came with us...and their efforts to train us into being the tool to destroy Peter Mathis will not be wasted any time soon!"

The Grey Jedi turned on his weapons. They were, in fact, still the fallen weapons from Jedi Master Amun-din, and the Dark Lord of the Sith, Emperor Lusac. The soft green blade of Amanda Mathis, and the daunting black saber of Luke Mathis, would be Kirito's weapons in the fight to overthrow the father of their former masters.

Asuna stood by his side, and turned on her soft magenta curved lightsaber. She stepped up to meet Kirito's position, and both heroes looked up to see what the grand designer would do next in his over-arching plan.

Peter Mathis smiled with a gentle movement on his face. He waved a hand, and summoned a polished silver double-ended saber staff. The two gold lightsaber blades that emitted from both ends lit up in a similar color to the rest of the glowing lights in the room.

The Game Maker nodded, and held his weapon down with both hands. "Very well. I'll let you make the first move."

"AGh!"

Lady Asuna was the first to move. The Dark Side energy she now learned to master was starting to swell faster than Kirito's, and projected her into the fight and up the steps of the throne room's pinnacle. Kirito followed closely behind, and just as both swordsmen drew closer, Asuna pulled her arm back, and sent the point of her weapon in to jab at Mathis's chest.

Kirito flipped over both their heads, and landed at Peter's back. The two were both met with rapid defensive deflections as the Game Maker's twin yellow lightsaber timed itself perfectly to defend from the joint assault.

Mathis kept every rather defensive, but any time he made his own direct attack, he always kept his eyes on Asuna, and tried to strike her first. His follow-throughs, or the attacks that went over the former Sith Lord's head, were the ones that he saved for Kirito.

Meanwhile, while Mathis was playing as the defensive one with his arms, his legs were rather active. They started to walk forward, and forced Asuna to back-pedal around the perimeter of the throne area as she held her off hand high, and continued jabbing with her right. Magenta flairs met in a song of battle with golden blades, each attack being accented by greens and blacks soon after. The three warriors danced with tremendous force as they each tried to keep their spirits level during the fight beneath the stars. Despite his older age, the version of Peter Mathis within this game was spry, energetic, and tenacious with each of his attacks.

He held the two young masters at bay, and suddenly flipped backwards toward his royal chair. Asuna and Kirito stumbled forward, and spontaneously blocked each other's assaults as neither succeeded in hitting Mathis during his ascent. Meanwhile, the GM of the Old Republic Online propelled himself from the back of his throne, and shot toward the two fighters like a missile trimmed in golden light.

His lightsaber flew around his body like a whirlwind of speed, but failed to strike flesh as both Kirito and Asuna blocked his flurry of attacks, and let him pass by to the stairs. Mathis landed, then launched himself slightly in the air with golden Sith lightning shooting from his feet. As he came between the two allies, the golden sparks shot across the field, and nearly blinded them both before Asuna blocked Peter's direct assault for her waist.

Kirito felt insulted that he was not the direct target on that attack, and smiled slightly as he pursued Mathis from the other side. He ran at the two of them, and swung both swords from the right to the left, but the master of the game swung the back end of his saber staff up to swipe at Asuna's head, then kept it flying past her, and used it to knock Kirito away on the return swing. Kirito barely kept ahold of his swords, and let the air take him across the stand, and nearly off the edge of the platform.

Mathis continued by holding the saber staff in one hand, and let it reach out in a circular swing to try and hit Asuna with its full force, but the former Lady of the Sith parried it easily, and then came around for another slash at his center. Peter caught his weapon, and deflected her attack. The two met in the middle, but were swiftly interrupted as Kirito jumped in with both lightsabers held high above his head.

Peter used the back end of his blade to push Asuna's weapon down once again, then twirled around to create energy, instantly releasing it into Kirito's chest to send him flying all the way across the room and down to the middle of the bridge. Mathis powered off his saber to conduct enough Force power for his attack, but then turned it back on to stop Asuna from taking his life.

Mathis smiled, and held her still with a blocking maneuver. "It's quite the small world. You know I've met your father before, on multiple occasions? I helped my son get a job with his company, RECT. That's where he learned to love the virtual world."

"Yea? A little too much if you ask me..." Both warriors put an equal amount of strength into their weapons, but Mathis talked with no effort, while Asuna's arms were growing more and more tense with each second that passed. "He tried to take people's minds over with his boss!"

"A truth, indeed." Mathis took the conversation once again. "He brought that technology into this game. I had no way of interpreting it, but his sister shut it down in the Republic, and made sure to let her faction fight with free will. He holds passion, but she holds kindness. It really created quite the interesting dynamic with users of the Holocron units."

Asuna pulled her blade away, and swung to hit low on Mathis's body, but the old man blocked it with the back swing from the left side of his staff. He caught her again with a defensive hold.

"You know, Asuna, you are the main reason behind the boy's success. I failed to remind myself of that going into this project, I even went as far as to ignore you when you arrived in my building. I was hunting Kirito to be my replacement, but I forgot that with every victory he's earned along the way in the virtual world, you were behind him in almost every aspect and fashion."

"You are really wasting your time, here!" Asuna gathered more of her strength, but tried to conserve it for a strong hit next time around. "Kirito's never had any interest in this game during his entire journey. He was trying to get me and the others out of this game alive. He wants to see this world fail!"

"And you honestly believe all of that!?" Mathis shouted with amusement and slight laughter. "The boy who cares more about the virtual world than most, would rather see this world broken or in the hands of a tyrant than in the care of someone with his passion and charisma. He is the combined aspects of my son and daughter! He is the only one who can preserve this project and move it along to its final phase!"

"Final phase...?" Asuna's arms lowered, and the two blades in the middle settled a bit to allow both warriors to look at one another more closely. "What's the final phase?"

Mathis grinned, but not in a sinister way. His eyes held wonder, but stayed in the moment long enough to relay what he had to share. "I wish to connect the human subconscious so closely with the virtual world, then study the behaviors of the mind in order to try and..."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Both Asuna and Mathis heard a slashing noise hit steel, and saw a large metal chandelier falling from the ceiling after getting broken by Kirito's twirling lightsaber. He caught his weapon, and sent the great monstrous lighting fixture through the glass ceiling, and broke the entire dome around the bridge to expose the throne room the dangerous void of space.

Asuna had jumped away from Mathis and back down on the bridge to meet Kirito, but suddenly the two men shut off their weapons, and outstretched their arms. A large bubble shield formed around both of them, and while Kirito's was only big enough to support his body and Asuna's, Peter Mathis had expanded his to cover the exact same size and location that the former glass sphere had taken before it broke.

The room remained preserved in peace just like before the window broke, but all three warriors stayed quiet. Kirito breathed heavily trying to hold up his Force shield for two, while Mathis held no struggle as he projected his barrier across the entire room. He even smiled down at the lovely couple as they struggled to deal with the current situation.

Asuna channeled memories from her dark Sith past, and immediately began to mediate in a bizarre fashion by pacing back and force. Kirito's bubble overlapped with Asuna's and both edges of the circles created a small pocket that blocked Asuna from the other two men. Her eyes started to glow with fire, and her fists clenched with red in her veins as she stared up at the top of the small steps to look at the confident Mathis peering at them down below.

Finally, Mathis moved first, and shot his arms up to lock the Force bulb in place, replacing the missing glass windows with pure Force energy to protect them for their continued fight. Kirito released his in normal fashion, which allowed Asuna to sprint forward and jump up for a second strike mimicking her first from the beginning of the fight.

Mathis met her pink blade with a song from his yellow, as both ends powered on to guard her, and Kirito as he rushed in with a flurry of green and black attacks. He twirled around in a circle to mimic a golden tornado, and hit the two opponents several times in high and low places.

Suddenly, Mathis's body split into two figures, and while the one that remained was quickly destroyed by Kirito and Asuna in joint fashion, the real Mathis slid in front of the golden throne and smiled down at his enemies.

"I've watched you both become Masters of the Force in your own right, now let's see if you truly know what it takes to wield power in this galaxy!"

He shot out pure white lightning that encompassed the width of the bridge down below. Kirito crossed his two sabers together to block the violent attack, while Asuna held up both her hands, and continued to hold her curved handle as she blocked the assault with red lightning flares of her own.

The swelling power between Mathis's feet was growing larger and larger, more and more with each second that he held his power on. Kirito and Asuna only grew weaker together, but suddenly, at the same time, Kirito swung his swords together in a scissor motion to cut away the immense attack, while Asuna shot out a large electric pulse from her hand to distort Mathis's lightning altogether.

Both warriors jumped high in the air, and raised their sabers to strike down their mighty opponent, but suddenly Mathis grabbed them both by the neck in the middle of their jump, and used his Force hold on their windpipes to propel them in into different locations.

Asuna shot down into the dead center of the bridge below, while Kirito shot all the way across the entire throne room, and slammed into the glassy elevator that led them into the lofty hall at the beginning. Mathis smiled, and flicked his left hand to shut the door, and watched it lower back down to the far away ground below.

"ASUNAAAA!" Kirito yelled with fear as the doors shut, and quickly met silence as Asuna and Mathis were now all alone in the expansive throne room settled underneath the heavens.

The room grew quiet, and while Asuna tried catching her breath down below Mathis stood with intimidation on his side in front of the royal throne to his back.

"Ahaaah...Ahhaaah..." Asuna still held on to her curved-hilt magenta lightsaber in her off left hand, but her right was now empty as she pulled her fingers together in a fist. She said nothing, and continued to stare at Mathis as the yellow faded from her eyes.

Meanwhile, his own golden eyes felt an eyebrow raise up as he looked on to his very interesting opponent. "The way you've learned how to turn off the Dark Side swells within your body. It's all quite impressive."

Asuna caught her breath, and swung her blade outward. "I gave up being a Sith Lord the moment I heard the voice of my daughter. Even if I don't remember her voice, or her face, or the moment we first met, I still knew that connection with her and my friends would be the one to set me free from my curse."

"You were right." Mathis stood up straight, and held his ignited saber-staff down in his right hand. "I'm quite thankful that Lucas managed to wipe all memories from you and the others, and then took half the free will from the entire Dark Side. If I had the strength of Kirito matched with the power of his entire friend group, I may have never lived to see him alone."

"And you won't...AGH!" Asuna drew in a deep breath, and unleashed a powerful cone of red Sith lightning from her dominant, right hand as she launched it straight for Mathis's face. He raised his left, and met her in the middle with powerful strands of white lightning that met the red in a horrible jolt of mangled sounds.

Sparks flew as high as the invisible ceiling, and the two Force masters stood at a great distance from one another to build up as much power as they could. Before the growing swell could erupt on the face of the bridge, however, Mathis tossed his lightsaber like a boomerang at Asuna to try and take out her arms. She stopped the attack, and drew up her red blade to hit the traveling saber away, sending it right back to the hands of its owner.

Then, they ran together, and fought up and down the length of the small set of stairs. Asuna had switched hands, and kept her right hand up high to strike at Mathis's face. Peter used the front end of his saber-staff for defense, and flicked her jabs away every time with little effort, choosing once in a while to try and hit her with the back off his sword, but failing every time as her speed was still too great to catch off guard.

Her breath was growing weaker, but Mathis gave her the benefit of the doubt and held his attack still this time to draw her in closer. "Personally, I'd like to see him fall once he makes it back up here. Maybe my son was on to something...the fire, the rage within you. What would happen if I took Kirito down before your eyes? Maybe the daughter of the wealthy Shouzou Yuuki is a more suited heir to my virtual Empire...?"

The elevator doors opened, and Kirito came running through. "ASUNA! GET AWAY AND LET'S BEAT HIM TOGETHER!"

Asuna held it out with Peter Mathis, but as the last few words from the GM's lips hit her ears, a small smile crossed over her face for the first time in a fight, and left her with eyes filled of hope instead of fear.

Mathis caught this, and pulled back the attack, kicking her in the chest. He sent her flying to the middle of the bridge, then tossed his spinning duel yellow lightsaber over the length of the throne room to hit Kirito in the chest.

Kirito's eyes grew bright, and his swords turned on at a very late instant, but before the glowing yellow sabers could pierce his flesh and end his virtual existence, the weapon flying through mid-air stopped, and pulled itself back to stab Asuna right in the heart, sending her to her knees. The last of her strength was used to pull the weapon out of her chest, and cut the yellow staff in two to fall by her side..

"NOOOOO!" Kirito's eyes shot with tears quickly turned red as he tossed his weapons aside and caught her falling body. His knees were settled beneath her weakening back, and a few spurts of breath came from her failing lungs to exhale out of her trembling lips.

"Kirito..." Her hand cupped his left cheek with the last bit of warmth in her veins as a smile graced her mouth, and tears slowly filled up her eyes. "Thank you, again...for saving me from m-myself...you're our only hope...n-now..."

"Asuna..." Kirito held her as tightly as possible, and shook with fear of losing her as he did back in the great floating castle of Aincrad. "Not again...I can't lose you like this again...I just can't...!"

She was gone. Asuna's body disappeared within the virtual realm of the Force System. Her former grey robes, dormant curved lightsaber hilt, and Kirito's fallen tears were the only things that remained in her place now.

The girl who struggled with her fate against the Dark and the Light, had finally become one with the Force.

* * *

 **For the final fight I wanted somewhere grandiose from the Old Republic specifically. Zakuul was my first choice, but the way I used Mortis in the first arc made me go back to it. But yes the throne room is 100% like Zakuul, and our dear Peter Mathis is mainly based on...well you probably know. It was sort of a combination of Emperor Valkorion and the Father from the Clone Wars. As far as his motivations? We'll have to keep reading...**

 **And finally there's Asuna. Sweet, naive, stupid Asuna. (bonus points if you get that reference.) She wad born into this world a villain, but died to be her loved one's hero.**

 **More tomorrow, until then!**


	41. 40: Always be Mindful

**Author's Note: I do not own Sword Art Online, or Star Wars.**

* * *

Chapter Forty - Always Be Mindful

* * *

Peter Mathis stood atop his royal lookout, unimpressed with the reaction from the great Kazuto Kirigaya. His eyes looked sad, until he noticed Asuna's body pass out of existence the way it did. She did not break apart like dead warriors in this game or Sword Art Online, but instead faded, like something out of the cinema.

However, the grand Game Maker still needed a new weapon, and found some playful irony in taking the fallen swords by Kirito's broken sides. He used the Force to collect the blades of Amanda and Lucas from across the room, holding the black in his right hand, and the pale mint green in his left.

"The weapons of my children." He spoke with a pause. "I suppose they will defend me now during this final battle."

Kirito still focused on the pile of nonsense that was once Asuna Yuuki. He had now seen her die and disappear in two different virtual worlds. This is what probably disappointed Mathis the most. The last thing he wanted was to have his future heir witness this.

"It was my fault." He admitted with a passive yet booming voice. "I should have never continually tried to fight her alone. I had my moment to persuade you back during our first meeting, and thought this would be a good time to win her over as well. I also put too much faith in my children to train the two of you..."

"Mathis." Kirito held on to the steaming robes with both his hands, then looked up with eyes coated in tears and red anger. A presence surrounded Kirito like nothing else in the game before, and started to make the bridge shake and levitate random objects around his body.

Mathis held his lightsabers low, but kept an eyebrow high as he tried to study the move of this beaten foe. He was now more intrigued than anything, and waited to see what would happen next.

"You're unbalanced once again, Kirito. You're in no condition to fight, and now I have your weapons."

Kirito slowly rose from his spot on the bridge, and pulled the curved lightsaber at his feet to his right hand. He powered on the brilliant soft red lightsaber once owned by Asuna on, and kept it down while he raised his left hand to activate his inventory screen.

"I took this from Alderaan after I watched two of my greatest friends battle for my life. Funny how all that worked out...in the end, I learned just as much from Darth Rosario as I did from the owner of this lightsaber."

The reforged blade that took his left hand was pure white gold trimmed with yellow flashy accents. It had two ends, and when illuminated, it emitted the brightest emerald green color that the Game Maker had ever seen.

It was the former double-bladed lightsaber of Jedi Master Leafa, the Hero of Tython, and Kirito's real-world relative.

Kirito turned off the back blade, and now the two warriors stood looking at one another with two sabers in both of their hands. A small moment of silence built the tension, but all was shattered as Kirito yelled out with rage and force to shoot himself up toward the throne, and right for its owner.

Red and Green, mint and black, the sparks flew all around the two Masters of the Force. Kirito would lead with his right hand, but Mathis easily found a way to block or dodge the red saber with ease every time as he went low to make his own strike for Kirito's gut. Kirito would then use that time to power on both ends of the green saber, and block all in-coming attacks with a spinning defense to create distance between the two, followed by a swipe with Asuna's blade to counter Mathis's advances.

Kirito tried to stick the back end of Leafa's blade through the chest of Peter, but missed, turned the blade off, then brought his two remaining sides together to form a cross as Mathis hammered down with both of his weapons.

Their eyes met, and while Kirito's were still puffy and red with emotion, the gold masking Peter Mathis's blue eyes was starting to shine even more with every swell of the Force. "Young Kirito! You've fought well!"

"I'm through with you, Mathis! I want no part in any of this! YOU HEAR ME!?"

"HA!" The elder game maker laughed so loud, its echo boomed through the sanctuary and started to ricochet off the invisible Force powered walls that kept the cold of space outside. "Not the best time to be giving up! If you fail to beat me, then you lose it all!"

Kirito winced as he held up his impregnable defenses. "All of what!? I told you that I want NO PART OF THIS GAME!"

"And your friends!?" Mathis howled. "The one's still trapped in this world alive, and the ones that passed away in death! Like your beloved Asuna? IF YOU FAIL, THEN THEY ALL REMAIN TRAPPED!"

Kirito's red and white eyes shot open, and a look of horror took his face the moment he realized the weight of his current situation. He was not just fighting to stay away from Mathis's grip, but also to save his friends and get them out of this game. Them, and everyone else using the Holocron Units since launch.

Peter Mathis grinned, with his face illuminated by the colors of the blades, and laughed as he delivered his threatening lines. A quote made famous by the films that inspired his masterpiece universe.

"Young fool. Only now, at the end do you understand."

They broke apart, and Kirito shot down to the floor beneath the stairs, looking up as he retained his ground and stood standing high and armed. Peter Mathis held his hands out in front of them, and even with his two blades ignited, he powered on a swelling ball of electrical energy consumed by both light and dark energy.

"I control the Light and the Dark! I control the living Force found within this game! If you will not accept my offer, then I will use this power to destroy your body and study YOUR REMAINS!"

Several large streaks of black and white lightning came from the orb surrounding his body. Kirito held his lightsabers high, and somehow caught the full force behind his cross-block as his feet started sliding backwards down the steps.

He felt like his hands were ready to give, and as the thought of all the friends he abandoned back in the regular expanses of space took his mind, they were quickly replaced with the horrible visions of seeing his loved ones that died along the way.

His arms were growing weak. He exhausted too much energy in his fight with Asuna, and now that one of his arms was mechanical, it seemed to do him no favors as that was the side which was set to give out first. His robotic hand started to spark slightly at the wrist, and his grip was slowly slipping over both the curved red lightsaber in his right hand, and the long green lightsaber in his left.

"I can't...give up...I won't...I need to feel...!"

Kirito's back foot was about to slide off the step underneath his feat, but suddenly he felt a swift uproar of energy swelling through the air. His veins quickly became ignited with warm, radiant energy, and soon after this euphoric feeling took hold of his being, a soft, gentle support came over his left hand, and cradled his grip within it.

"Kazuto...feel the Force around you!"

 _"Suguha!?"_ Kirito gasped, and noticed the glowing blue hand of Suguha's ghost had taken hold of his left arm, and held him steady the long green handle that made up her former saber-staff. She looked Kirito right in the eyes, and delivered a shining smile of full support for her older sibling.

"You're out only hope. Beat him, and let's get out of this game!"

"I...I..."

"Kirito."

His darting black eyes immediately shot over to his right hand, which was now being held by another distant ghost of the Force. It was a similar, gentle feeling like the one provided by Suguha, and the owner of this embrace delivered a soft, supportive smile as she looked her loved one right in the eye.

"The Force has always been within you."

The ghost of Asuna Yuuki had come to his right side, and lent her hand in this final hour of need. Giving Kirito just enough support to discover the true power within himself.

"The Force..." Kirito had difficulties trying to master the concept of his bizarre, mystical power ever since he landed in this unknown world. His friends and former spirits helped him master the secrets of its nature, but as Peter Mathis once alluded to early in their first confrontation, the Force had always resided within his body, and was only waiting for him to channel its energy to release at the right time.

"The Force is in me...I struggled to discover this power for so long, but everyone kept telling me...it was living inside me the entire time...the _Force Within_."

Suddenly, a large orb of white and black energy swelled from Kirito's body as well. Not as mangled or wicked as the lightning that protected Peter Mathis, but cleaner, and smoother. Kirito let the energy swell inside him, and the Force power called to his side shot out, and pushed back the advancing assault from Mathis's hands. Their dichotomy was met at the center of the stairs, and just as the beams from the two opponents grew larger, a hot white center met at the middle, and threatened to destroy the entire facility.

"You've found it!" Mathis yelled maniacally over the grinding of the swelling energy. "I knew you had the strength to defeat me!"

"Only because..." Kirito still had to channel his own strength to power on his new ability, but as it grew, the fight quickly became easier for him to manage. "...you're letting me over-power you!"

"Modesty!" The elder game maker shouted. "You won't have time for that once your the CEO of a powerful virtual tech company!"

"I'm not being modest...and I'm not taking your company." Kirito's swords were still blocking the blades of his enemy, and both continued to ignite their force-field spheres around their bodies as his now angry eyes pierced their way to Mathis. "You had your eyes on me to take your company since the beginning, so much so that you even forgot who built this world for you in the first place...hell, you've even forgotten the very people who are defending you right now."

 _"Defending...me?"_ Mathis was taken back for just a moment, and while he could faintly see the glowing energy of two blue figures holding onto Kirito's arms, he soon felt a soft sense of support on his left and right arms as well.

"Father."

His eyes shot open. The voice of his eldest child, his daughter Amanda passed through his head as a new Force spirit lent its support on his left side.

"It's time, father, time for us to turn this world off."

"She's right."

Peter's eyes flashed over to his right side, and now noticed the face of his youngest, the son Luke Mathis, looking toward the opponent, Kirito. "We knew you would never chose either of us on your own. We've both seen so much failure over the years...even after you had given us so much in the world."

Amanda continued while Kirito's power grew more, and Peter's started to stall. "We tried to train Kirito and Asuna because like you, we knew they had experience taking down corrupt Game Makers. And now...we are only thankful that he brought our weapons right to you."

 _"My children..."_ Peter Mathis felt his shoulders start to buckle, and the blades in his hands were growing thinner by the second. His eyes started to shed a tear, and a soft smile glossed over his lips. _"It is I who has failed you..."_

The supportive ghosts of the Force had disappeared from Kirito, and the rebellious ghosts of the Mathis children had faded from their newly enlightened father. Kirito's hands glowed with the same color as the blades at his side. He shot up the steps after the energy had dispelled, and brought the remainder of the fight right for Mathis. Hacking and slashing like the days from Sword Art Online, Kirito laid into the old man with fierce rage and unwavering power. The great game maker of The Old Republic Online could not keep up, and found glowing cuts of hot orange coming from his arms and legs, weakening his body, and lowering his defenses to nearly nothing else.

"AGH!" The green orb surrounding his left hand exploded, and soon after, Kirito powered on a forgotten swordskill from the land of Aincrad, and delivered a swift attack befitting of the Black Swordsman from those times. Kirito repeatedly cut around the body of Mathis with hashes and x-formations, and suddenly switched the position of his swords to the back of his palms. He kept up the attack as much as possible, and nailed the central hit right on its intended mark.

 _"STARBURST STREAM!"_ The light behind Kirito erupted, and the daunting 16-hit combo sent Mathis crashing back into his now broken royal throne. He dropped the black saber from his right hand, and in an effort that proved to be both weak and in vain, held his shaking left arm high with the mint green ligthsaber still ignited for his final defense.

"I'M NOT DONE YET!" Now, his right hand erupted with a glowing red orb powering his final assault. He moved with similar hacks and slashes to the _Starburst Stream_ , but they were produced at twice the intense speed. Mathis had no way of keeping track as his eyes darted back and forth to try and follow the assault as it came crashing down over head, but as soon as he caught a glimpse of Kirito's white eyes, it was all too late.

"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"

The _Mother's Rosario_ , powered by the fallen spirit of Asuna, was perfectly executed, and smashed the elder game maker further into the ground, and down to a defeated position flat on his back. His last moments were spent looking at the wobbly lightsaber once held by his caring daughter. A tear fell from his eye as her face passed through his vision.

 _"Amanda...Lucas..."_ He let it roll down his face as the beautiful attack from Kirito ended his life, and instantly thought of his children. _"It's time I name my new heir."_

Kazuto Kirigaya had successfully defeated and killed Peter Mathis. His attack had thus released the gigantic Force bubble protecting both of them from space, and launched the entire galaxy into its final moments as all servers were forced to shut down in the wake of the lasting battle.

* * *

The next thing he knew, Kazuto's eyes opened wide with energy, and his body shot up with an alert presence as he breathed heavily through his terror and collected his surroundings.

"Kirito!" The voice of Asuna shot over from the other side of the room. His eyes darted her way, but froze the moment he noticed her walking toward him.

Asuna's clothes were normal, and from the real world. Her eyes were normal, and brown from the real world. And her voice, lost in her death by Peter Mathis, was alive, and back in the real world.

He looked down at his hands, and noticed all was alive and human. His clothes, the red t-shirt hidden beneath an open black jacket, and his slim dark blue jeans with simple black sneakers, were all back on his body as he gathered his only thoughts all at once. Asuna threw her arms around him, and leaned her head into his shoulder.

"Kirito! Kirito you did it! You beat him!"

"Asuna?" Kirito tried to lean back to catch what she had just said. "You knew I was fighting Peter Mathis?"

Asuna sniffled, and wiped a tear from her face as she leaned back. "I watched you. I helped you at the end during the battle. Once I died in the game, all my memories shot back to me, and returned just in time to help you."

"Kazuto!"

Kirito's head turned, and now met the advancing Suguha Kirigaya jumping at him with all her energy. She too wrapped her loving arms around his upper body, and buried her tears into his sleeve to try and catch her words.

"I told you...you tried to ignore me, but I told you...you were really our only hope."

Kirito leaned back in the now opened Holocron bed as Asuna leaned over him from one side, and Suguha from the other. His eyes drifted up to the ceiling, and a small smile crossed his face.

"Nah, I only beat him because everyone else was there pushing me along the way."

He tried to enjoy the moment of rest for only a little bit, but suddenly, a loud and obnoxious voice pierced through the door way, and shouted at the three in their embrace.

"Hey Kirito! You guys better come see this!" It was Klein, with his spiky red hair and his signature bandanna. "That Mathis dude that brought us all in here just woke up from a Holocron!"

Kirito sat up, and the three friends all looked at one another before jumping out of the medical bed and moving out to find the commotion. It did not take long, however, for the group to discover the trail of ministry agents and federal officers crowding the hallways outside of the main lab. They fought their way through the adult crowd, and came across all their friends huddled to one side trying to get a glimpse of the scene in the middle of the primary Holocron room.

Seijirou Kikuoka stood with a gun in hand held down at his side. He watched with the rest of the audience as a blond woman huddled over the weak body of an old man lying in an unconditionally large Holocron bed. To the right of the main machine was an open bed empty of its passenger, and to the left side of the room sat a tall but rather thin man sitting on the edge of his bed. His eyes were wide open, and both were looking into the blank ground at his feet.

"Father...why didn't you tell us?!" The woman sobbed over the body of the old man, while the passenger of the newly opened Holocron simply smiled and looked up at his daughter.

"Amanda. I'm happy to see your face...now you know why I was so nervous before the day of our big release. I was afraid I'd never see my project in its final stages. But I did...it turned out to be almost as beautiful as you..." Peter Mathis put a hand on her cheek, and held it there for a short time. "Where is Lucas?"

Luke Mathis shook as he got up, and trembled over to his weak father's bedside and knelt down on both knees beside his sobbing sister. Asuna and Suguha were both covering their mouths with two hands. Silica and Lisbeth fought tears off to the side, while Klein held his hands high over his head.

Sinon mimicked the same reaction as Asuna and Sugu, and Agil kept his arms crossed over his body as he stood over the others with a look of regret and sadness.

Kirito slowly walked out into the area, and stood by the still frozen Kikuoka. He held a solid face of no emotion, and his glasses were reflecting the light above to block Kirito from seeing his eyes.

Mathis kept one hand on Amanda's cheek, and the other grabbed Lucas's outstretch left hand. Both children waited for their father to speak before making any further reactions.

"My children. I never lost faith in either of you. I was worried you'd be hurt...yet you both made me proud. You trained two new players from start to finish, and allowed them to beat me and end the game...congratulations."

"Father...no...I..." Lucas even started to feel water forming under his eyes, but the patriarch of the Mathis family never let him speak. "When did you get so sick?"

Peter Mathis let his eyes close while his smile grew bigger. "Through my years of research, my body could not keep up with the technology...I know you both hold the same passion that flows through my veins...I couldn't let either of you take the reins of my company and lead a life like mine...researching to no end...a life of sewing, with no harvest left to reap." His eyes were now opened.

"Luke...you have your mother's eyes. And Amanda has her smile. I'm proud to let you both take the company from me." He leaned up with what little ounce of strength he had, and delivered a new smile for an odd pair of recipients.

"Kikuoka." He said with a calm presence. "My project inside the world of Star Wars nearly led me to a new discovery. You'll find my research report in an email sent to your account. I imagine you'll enjoy the results..."

Kirito looked up at the face of the Japanese Ministry of Defense Officer once again, but it held no emotion.

"Kirito."

The boy turned to look past Amanda's and Luke's shoulders. Peter Mathis looked right into his eyes, and nodded. "Thank you for helping me find my way. I owe it all to you, and your friends. I knew I picked the right bunch to test my galaxy."

Finally, his head lowered back down to his pillow. "Lucas...take the _Old Republic_ title, and become its lead developer. Amanda...I want to leave the _Immortal Gaming_ Company in your hands."

"But I...I..." Amanda Mathis had battled the weight of her family's mistakes for an entire campaign. She wanted to be done with the virtual world, but now, in this thin moment, she saw a small ounce of hope coming from her father's dying eyes.

"Take care, both of you...and may the Force be with you."

Peter Mathis was pronounced dead on the scene. His two children mourned over his deceased body as the ministry agents escorted them and the others out of the offices.

* * *

One day later, Kikuoka had Kazuto Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki out for a debriefing over lunch. Kirito's blue shirt was not as dark as his usual wear, but it was far from a festive color of the spring-time months. Asuna had a yellow dress on covered by a small white sweater that ended halfway down her arms. She also wore a wide-brimmed sun hat, and sat with a glass of tea in her hand as she stirred the ice around with her straw.

Kikuoka Seijirou sat on the other side, enjoying his meal in a light grey suite, with white undershirt and a black tie to round it all out. He wiped away the crumbs from his mouth, and reached for his own glass of ice water.

"So that's basically the story. Pretty shocking stuff, actually. Peter Mathis needed people to test his Holocron units for private research, and things got out of hand with technology from his children's work in the game."

"I don't believe it." Kirito leaned back in his chair as people walked all about them on the streets outside the downtown Tokyo café. "Peter Mathis was diagnosed with brain cancer after trying to scan his brain so much over a decade? Then he used the meticuboid technology to create the Holocron beds to try and burn his body into the virtual world? I wonder why he needed the one thousand volunteers in the first place? What was the research he was conducting...?"

Asuna put her drink down, and slowly rubbed both her arms in a tight embrace. "That's too creepy. It's almost like what the Commander did after he lost his life in SAO. Those machines were the same ones that kept my fiend Yuki alive before she passed away. It makes sense that the inventors would lend him the design if he was sick, himself."

Kikuoka nodded, and tossed his napkin onto his plate. "Precisely. He used that technology to keep his sick body alive long enough for his children to fight over his company. What he failed to realize was that one had no intention of taking his company, while the other was using his own technology to manipulate the game and its players into doing his son's bidding."

Kirito sat still. "What about the kids? Are Amanda and Luke off the hook?"

Seijirou puckered his lips for a bit, then shrugged. "Their involvement is still being investigated. Their father's board of directors is currently in-charge of _Immortal Gaming_. We have no desire to let Luke Mathis stay in command of developing the Old Republic servers, but seeing as they're practically wiped away by now, I think he'll agree to a simple year-long probation from the work force."

"And Amanda?" Asuna asked. "Will she keep her role as CEO of _Immortal Gaming?_ "

Seijirou shrugged again, and smiled causally. "I don't see why not. So far, her story checks out, and Kirito's testimony was a big help. Knowing her past, she may lead them into a safer direction than the one they were previously headed in."

All three figures sat in silence, until Kikuoka finished sipping the last of his hot cup of tea. He placed the cup back on the table next to his ice water, then looked at the two teenagers.

"But I don't totally get it..." Kirito put a finger underneath his chin and leaned back. "What was Peter Mathis trying to achieve? Why was he trying to create such a complex world compared to regular VR? It was the most immersive experience I've ever been a part of. He used 1000 players to conduct his experiments, but why...?"

"I wish I could remember any of it..." Asuna scratched the back of her head, and reluctantly held her head low. "I faintly remember Mathis getting ready to tell me something important, but my mind is totally blank when trying to narrow down the memory."

Seijirou's slyly adjusted his glasses, and gave them both a polite nod. "I imagine he had his own reasons, like any other crazy game developer these days. He was a man sentenced to death, so he used what was left of his life to change the world. What matters is that everyone is safe and sound back in the real world...once again thanks to you two of all people."

Then, the Japanese ministry agent stood up, and pushed his chair in as he departed for the street. "Until I need you again for some crazy mission! Enjoy the rest of your day, Kirito. Asuna."

Kirito narrowed his vision as the man departed for the road. Asuna leaned over and held his hand with a nervous expression. "Kirito? Is something wrong?"

He had no direct answer for her. His eyes were still following the departing Seijirou. "Nothing...I just know he's holding something from me again. He always has something up his sleeve."

Asuna crossed her arms, and pouted slightly. "Honestly, you are even more ridiculous now that the game is over. Anyway, I never bothered to ask you...what did you think?"

"What did I think?" Kirito turned to her with a puzzled expression. "About what?"

"Duh?" Asuna teased. "The _Old Republic Online?_ The World of _Star Wars!?_ What did you think I meant? I can't remember anything that happened inside that game to save my life. I imagine you probably have a pretty big opinion of it, though."

"Oh, hmm...well, now that you've asked...I dunno."

"You don't know?" Asuna tilted her head, and put the back of her hand up to his forehead. "Did that game fry your memory too?"

"No, it's not like that...It's just... I dunno." Kirito leaned back, and let his eyes be pulled up by the clouds. "That was the most realistic project I've ever been apart of. I actually had power over the galaxy itself. It was so immersive...so life-like. I just wonder..."

"What?" Asuna kept her eyes on her beloved while he kept looking at the bright blue sky above.

Kirito sighed, and let his eyes fall shut. "If I'll ever get to see a virtual world that realistic again."

Meanwhile, Seijirou Kikuoka continued walking down the street, knowing full-well that Kirito and Asuna were still discussing the game. He held a smile underneath his black spectacles, and tried to remember the words that Peter Mathis delivered in his posthumous email sent after the incident.

 _"Kikuoka,_

 _Attached is the full report from the Force System analysis. The data found within the entire week of play for the Star Wars: The Old Republic Online video game will revolutionize the way we view the virtual world, and the way we humans interact with it._

 _I hope this valuable information finds you well, and I hope it continues to help in our research for locating the human fluctlight, and developing top-down perfect AI._

 _-P. Mathis_ _"_

"I'm sure it will help, my good friend." Seijirou Kikuoka kept his expression sly as he walked along the streets of busy Tokyo in the mid-day spring sun. "I'll be sure to utilize every bit of it when we commence the next phase of Project: ALICIZATION here in a few months."

-THE END-

* * *

 **Credit Roll! Well what a roller-coaster that was for me! Almost 3 years in the making! I have not successfully finished a story since 2016, so this has been a very intense project for me, and in the end I walked away with a big smile on my face after finishing this one up.**

 **Where did I go wrong? Oh my lord I went wrong all over the place! This was no perfect story! Hell I know of two or three really big things that probably turned people away!**

 **1\. The cliches. Soooo many Star Wars cliches! I just had to, people! I had to reference all the funny, witty quotes and scenes that I could but tried to still keep it SAO. I hope the over-use of quotes from the Star Wars series didn't ruin it for people!**

 **2\. The lack of new planets. I know one thing Star Wars always does well is they always introduce a new planet to each addition of their story. The movies, all the TV shows, the video games, they all include new planets. I did not create a single planet from scratch (I did change up Mortis a bit, but eh...) I actually had my own reason for this, though. I wanted to use planets from the Old Republic MMO as much as possible to remind the readers what Star Wars universe this still was. Not the movies, or the TV shows. Still, I could have been a bit more ambitious...**

 **3\. NO aliens! None of the characters were alien races! Did you notice? Trentyn was a cyborg, but all were human! I have no idea why I did this, but while I wrote it I just never envisioned any of the characters as getting alien avatars. Just weird how it worked out.**

 **There was other stuff too that wasn't so good about this story, but it's mostly stuff I don't really let get to me! I still had a f*cking BLAST writing this one! The last SAO story I wrote was a Lord of the Rings one, and I used a lot of Howard Shore's LOTR soundtrack to motivate my writing. On the last day I wrote that story, I played back all the LOTR songs that helped me through the process, but I ended my playlist on the Star Wars title screen theme because I knew it would be the next SAO story I wrote. God damn! John Williams writes a good score! I grew up loving him, and I'm glad I was able to incorporate his Star Wars music into my writing.**

 **Anyway, that will do it from here! I intentionally ended the story right on the mark before Alicization to make it act like an unofficial prequel to that arc (that's why I never wanted to use Alice or any of those guys!) I have a few ideas for two more SAO stories though. One is a deep, psychological story involving Kirito and Asuna in the world of _Lordran_ , and the other...well I'd love to write SAO visiting the world of my personal favorite MMO. I think Kirito and Asuna would lend themselves well to the world of _Tamriel_...**

 **But I'm done! Thank you all SO very much for reading, visiting, commenting, and following! I'll see you all later, and _May the Force be with you!_**


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